Just Your Average Delinquent
by cookiecrumbs976
Summary: Lena Evans has been through a lot. But before she can have her happy ending, she must convince the gods to why they should let their enemies's half mortal children inside Camp Half Blood. Sequel to Secret Life of a Juvenile Delinquent. Read and Review!
1. I Get Carsick

**Here it is! The first chapter to the sequel! Please read, and then tell me what you think. ^^ PS, to newcomers, to understand the story fully, please read the first book: Secret Life of a Juvenile Delinquent.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson. And I'll never get enough money to buy it from Rick Riordan either.**

**Just Your Average Delinquent**

**I Get Carsick**

Snowflakes descended onto the citizens of Manhattan everywhere, like a bizarre case of contagious dandruff. I tugged the thin coat around me and then crossed my arms, shivering as I waited for Trey to appear so we could take the subway back together from our school. As I checked my watch for the thirtieth time, I made up reasons why he was late. _Forgot his jacket. Got sick and went home early. Got caught up in solving math problems._ I snorted at the last one. More like he got in trouble. _Again_.

Trey was a pyromaniac. Well, actually he wasn't. He got sent to this boot camp of a school because he was fooling around with a lighter, got caught, and thanks to over reactive parents, was sent to this school, Tawson Academy, a private school for 'special' kids AKA a place where parents stuffed their delinquent kids and hoped they would become obedient.

It was my school too.

You could say that my school records weren't clean. In fact, you could say that my school records pretty much didn't exist. Before being sent to Tawson, I skipped school so often, terms would go by without me showing up. Not that I'd ever stayed at one school long enough for a term to go by without being expelled. Nope, I wasn't not the model child every parent wants.

A cold gust of wind blew right into my face and I wondered why the academy couldn't link the two buildings it was comprised of together. I mean, the building for the guys and the building for the girls were right next to each other. Then again, it probably was because they didn't want any relationships between the boys and the girls to occur. No romance whatsoever. That was the number one unofficial rule in the school. So I couldn't go in and wait for Trey in the building without being kicked back out by a teacher and possibly get suspended, which was the last thing my parents needed.

The café was just across the street. I looked down at my frozen fingers. Could I just pop into the store quickly and get my daily dose of sugar before Trey got out? I warmed the fingers up by rubbing my hands together though it did nothing to help.

Just then, the door opened a person slunk down the steps, under the watchful gaze of a teacher. The door swung shut again and he straightened up, suddenly a different person than before. He raised a hand. "Lena."

I scowled at him and stamped my feet. Stupid boots. I wished I'd ignored my mom's 'fashion' advice and put on ones that actually kept my feet warm. In fact, if there were such thing as combat boots that kept your feet warm in negative weather, I would buy them and put them on just to see my parents' reactions. "Would it kill you to be punctual? I can't feel my hands. Or my toes. If I got frostbite, you're paying my hospital bills."

He acted like he didn't hear my comment. "Mr. Johnson caught me chewing gum in class, and I got detention." He reached a hand up to push back a brown lock of hair in the wind.

"Just for chewing gum in class? Wow, they must hate you for what you did to the science classroom." Just a month ago, Trey had done exactly what the teacher told him not to do. The result was the entire room getting scorch marks on the wall, and the relocation of science class to another wing. Maybe Trey wasn't a delinquent before he went to Tawson Academy, but now he was – in school, anyway. As a message to his parents and to express his feelings, he'd transformed from an innocent kid wrongly accused to every teacher's personal hell. But outside of school, he was okay, and not too annoying of a travel partner.

"Well, on a brighter note," he said, his words forming a wispy cloud in front of his mouth, "Winter break's in two days."

"The weather told me," I sighed. "Can you believe it's technically not winter, but autumn? Winter's starting in… five days," I realized with a lurch in my stomach. It was December 16th. December 21st was the first day of winter, and the winter solstice, when all the gods met together on Olympus and discussed stuff… like the demititan camp.

Now you're probably think… what? God_s_? Demititan?

So I'll explain.

I, Lena Evans, am more than a delinquent. I'm a demigod, which means that I'm half human, and my other parent's a god. A Greek god, you know, Zeus, Apollo, Athena? I'm the daughter of Poseidon. Which means I have all these awesome powers over the sea and can manipulate water, along with my half-brother, Percy, the son of Poseidon. Hmm, not so much a plain New Yorker anymore, right?

Now about demititans. They're the children of a human, and a titan. They're like demigods but probably stronger because their daddy/mommy on the immortal side are stronger than the gods. But the gods are ruling, and you already know that. If you don't… the human race exists, which pretty much is a huge clue that titans aren't ruling planet Earth. Anyway, us demigods had a place to train and be protected by monsters. Demititans didn't, which I was hoping to change, after meeting a guy at West Point who was a demititan and nearly killed me – but that's a different story, and obviously, my feelings about him changed. Zeus let me present my idea to the council back in June, and the date I'd be presenting was coming up real soon and I was getting nervous.

"Lena? You okay?" Trey asked. It wasn't typical of me to suddenly fall silent if I wasn't super angry at him, but it was happening a lot more now. He grabbed my shoulder and I came face to face, staring angrily into his brown eyes, wondering if I should slap him and ask him why the hell he just did that. But he just pointed to the café. "Do you want to get something?"

I lowered my hand. "I'm fine. Let's just get back home, okay?"

He nodded. "Christmas. Are you sending any presents?"

"Just my family, cause that's mandatory. Can you really imagine me sending a box of chocolates to Ms. Falk?" I was referring to a beaky eyed teacher who looked mean enough to take out the whip and threaten everyone with it, though of course, that wasn't allowed. "Nope, didn't think so."

He exhaled. "You see, the other day, I was doing some Christmas shopping with my sister, and you know how you told me about the combat boots you wanted –"

I interrupted him and grabbed his wrist. "Do you hear something?" We were right before the stairs that would descend down to the subway station.

"No…" Trey said slowly. "As I was saying –"

"Shush!" I said and turned toward the faint voice that was calling me from a far away distance. My eyes locked onto a cab. Not a yellow cab like the ones surrounding it, but a gray one, that seemed to look like smoke. Like it was made of smoke. "That taxi, there," I said and pointed.

Trey blinked. "What? They're all just taxis…"

"You don't see a gray one?"

"No."

"Then you're mortal."

"Wha –"

"Lena!" Someone stuck their head out the window and waved.

"Percy?" I yelled back, although I'd already figured that it was him. What was my half-brother doing in a cab made of smoke? As I watched, the cab veered from the opposite lane and drove over to this side, stopping a bunch of cars in their tracks. They beeped impatiently and the cab screeched to a stop. I ran over to the window. "What are you doing here?"

"Picking you up," he said. "Let's go! These drivers won't wait forever."

"Percy –" I threw my hands in the air. "You could've called or something, and given me time to get ready –"

"You have your sword?"

"Yeah." In my backpack, now made of some special material as the blade always ruined the material of the previous backpacks.

"Your dagger?"

"Yes, but –"

"Then let's go." He looked at me blankly like he didn't get why I wasn't getting into the car.

"Lena?" Trey called a few feet behind me. He sounded wary. I turned around and saw that he was holding his cell phone in case anything happened. Gee, when did he become so overprotective?

"Hey, I got to go now. Now, now. When you get back, can you tell my mom I'm off to camp?" I opened the door and Percy slid over a seat to let me sit down. "Don't worry, I'm not being kidnapped. Just tell her that, okay?"

"Camp? It's winter!"

"See you Trey!" I shouted as a farewell and rolled up the window. The cab started driving away, leaving him on the sidewalk, looking pretty frustrated and sad at the same time. I tore my gaze from his figure, which still didn't descend underground, to the front window of the cab. "Drive slower, will you?" I said to the driver, and then realized it was an old lady. "Ma'am?"

She cackled and I pressed into the back of the seat, feeling something lumpy behind me. "Anger likes it just right," she said and jerked the wheel sharply to the right to avoid an incoming trunk. I got thrown onto Percy, and my head hit the window. _Ow…_

"What cab did you pick?" I asked him. "The Express?" He had some heavy chain buckling down. I stared.

"Buckle up," he advised.

Even though I'd just banged my head pretty hard, I decided that was just overkill, and instead of buckling it on, hung onto the chain tightly. And then noticed there were three old ladies at the front, not just one.

"Give me the eye!"

"I'm driving."

"Excuses!" One old lady dove and reached for the lady that was driving. She let go of the steering wheel and a symphony honks rose up. "You've had it for too long!"

"Percy!" I gritted my teeth. "Who the _hell_ are these nannies?"

"Sorry, it's the fastest way to camp. These are the Gray Sisters and they operate a taxi service."

"Fastest? I'll say. Are you insane?" I gripped the handle of the door in case I had a sudden urge to bail. The seatbelt now truly looked like a life saving device. I hurriedly strapped it on when the cab came to a halt.

"Give the tooth!"

"The eye! The eye!"

"They're blind?" I asked horrifyingly. "Give her the eye?"

"They only have one." Percy explained, closing his eyes so he didn't have to see the traffic whooshing by us.

"In _total?_" He didn't answer, so I took it as a yes. The scenery was moving past so quickly I couldn't even look out the window without feeling sick. I grabbed my backpack with one hand, the other still on the handle of the door, and then decided it had served me enough and deserved to be puked in. "One more spin and then –" The cab whirled around wildly and stopped in the middle of the intersection of Broadway and 42nd street. I shut my eyes and cars squealed past us and drivers slammed onto brakes. I clutched my stomach and pushed the bag away. _I won't throw up. I won't throw up._

The taxi drove up the bridge double the speed limit, avoiding cars and switching lanes twice every second. My ears tried to block out the sound of their arguing but then I felt something land on my hand and I screamed, seeing it was a slimy tooth.

"The 'ooth," one of the old ladies said, turning to face me. The other old ladies fell silent. I saw that her eyes were sunken and shrank against the car door, timing exactly when I should jump. The tooth landed somewhere under my foot.

"No," I said shakily. "No tooth. If you're going to kill us –"

"The 'ooth!" she urged and I quickly scooped it up and was prepared to throw it to her face, grateful I had gloves on, no matter how thin they were. Then I stopped.

"No," I repeated. "I won't give it to you if you drive like maniacs."

"Not another one!" she wailed and reached out with her thin arm. But because she was blind, she missed easily and I dodged her fingers.

"Drive slower!"

"Please," Percy said, looking a little green himself.

"Slower, you could've gotten a bus ticket," she grumbled, which sounded weird without a tooth. "Tooth."

"Slower."

The lady at the wheel slowed down considerably. I whipped the tooth towards her face and they were back at bickering for it, but at least we weren't dying anymore.

"Change your mind about the fastest way to camp?" I asked Percy.

"Who wouldn't?" He fiddled with his pen, his hands now free from clutching the seatbelt for dear life. I recognized it to be Riptide, the pen that transformed into a sword. "Are you ready for the winter solstice?"

"Is this why we're going to camp?"

"I thought you'd probably like it better if you had a bunch of campers coming with you. Going to the winter solstice meeting is like an annual field trip for Camp Half-Blood."

"Then thanks for picking me up. I don't know I would've spent the next few days at home. Now tell me the real reason you're picking me up."

He looked out the window. "I got a call from camp, asking me to come immediately. But the matter's more to do with you… so I spent all day trying to locate you in Manhattan."

"What matter?" I asked him, but he didn't say anything for the five minutes I continuingly asked that, so I decided to fall silent and just go with the flow.

The ladies at the front squabbled, and the car began to speed up again. I sighed loudly, but it couldn't be avoided, and held in my lunch as best as I could as we weaved in and out of the traffic.

~0~

Thanks to the gray sisters' crazy driving, we got to camp in less than an hour. I opened the door and almost toppled into the snow, hoping the Christmas tree wouldn't mind if I threw up all over it. But a few steps forward, it was easier to keep my mouth shut. I slammed the door and Percy paid the sisters. He joined me by Thalia's tree – although it no longer hosted the spirit of Thalia, people still called it that – and we walked down the hill towards the Big House, together.

He was muttering something under his breath, like "Hope Mr. D doesn't liquefy me for bringing her…" which sounded extremely reassuring. I twisted my fingers with the strap of the backpack, feeling the circulation cut off and then let go, letting the blood flow through. We went up the porch steps, and Percy opened the door in front of me.

The Big House looked exactly the same. I shook the snowflakes out of my hair, but they melted quickly leaving me wet and cold on my head. Then I wiped my boots on the welcome mat and waited for Percy to give me instructions.

"This way," he said and led me to a room I'd never been in before. He closed the door and sat down in the last available chair and everyone else in the room stared at me.

At first, I wondered why the hell all these people decided to meet together. There was Travis and Connor Stoll, and Katie Gardner, as well as Clarisse la Rue and Percy's girlfriend, Annabeth Chase. Then I realized they were all camp counsellors, and well, I wasn't one. Chiron looked surprised to see me here.

"Um, is there anywhere I can sit?" I asked them. The counsellor for Morpheus's cabin got out and disappeared into the back room. She reappeared with a chair and set it down next to Percy's. "Thanks," I said and sat down.

"Well, we definitely didn't expect you," Travis said the obvious.

"I didn't expect myself here either," I snapped. "But Percy said whatever you guys are discussing is related to me." All eyes shifted him and he looked down at the table.

"She is," Percy addressed the table and then looked up. "How do you think you can just leave her out?"

Clarisse said something like, "Prissy."

"So anyone want to give me a clue?" I asked. "What are we talking about?"

Chiron clopped his hooves uncomfortably. He nodded towards Connor Stoll, and said, "Show her our new camper."

"Why me?" Connor protested.

"She temporarily resides in your cabin," Chiron countered. "Young man –"

I cut him off. "Wait, temporarily? Is she already claimed or something?" I watched Chiron frown and he waved us out, dismissing us. Connor got out of his chair. I followed him. "Is it just me, or is everyone like pissed at me?"

Connor had traded his mischievous grin for a grim expression. He looked oddly serious, which was usually not a word you used to describe him. "Come on Lena." He opened the door. I slung the backpack over my shoulder and went into the cold again.

The cabins weren't too far from the Big House. We jogged through the snow. Connor was only wearing an orange t-shirt, but he didn't seem too concerned. My jeans got soaked and I shivered from head to toe as Connor happily – well, not happily – trudged ahead. Finally we reached Cabin Eleven, which I was surprised to see still intact, because it was so worn down and everything I had expected it to have toppled under the weight of the snow.

Inside, it was warm, and mainly empty, save about four campers. I was surprised to see that. Usually the cabin was crowded, but when the summer campers were gone, their numbers had diminished greatly.

The four of them looked up at me. I tried not to flinch and we stayed in awkward silence until Chris Rodriguez gave a tiny smile and pointed to the back of the cabin. I looked past the ark shadows and realized what I'd mistaken as a blanket was in fact another camper.

The girl wasn't moving, but utterly still. She was sitting down and looking at a blank page with such intensity, you would've thought she was studying for something – if the page wasn't blank. At least I thought she was looking at the page. Her head was bowed down towards it but her back was towards me. I could only see she had black hair running down it, full of twigs and leaves. I took a few silent steps and laid a hand on her shoulder.

Her head whipped around so fast I fell onto my butt in surprise. For a moment, I rudely stared into her eyes. They had an uncanny emptiness in them, despite the dark colour. I hesitantly put the hand back on her shoulder, noticing how she flinched as I did so. Her gaze dropped to my hand and then back at my eyes.

"I'm Lena," I said. "You're a new camper, right?" She was probably younger than me. A few months. A year at the most. "Who are you?"

The girl kept looking at me, so intently it felt like we were in a staring match. I felt my hand side to the floor and turned to Connor.

"She can talk, right?"

He had been looking at anywhere but her. "She can. But I think she prefers not to."

I waved a hand to her. "She always like this?"

He frowned. "I've only heard her speak once. To say who she was. Yesterday."

"She was here since yesterday? Then who is –" I stopped, because there was a faint whisper behind me. "Can you say that again?" I asked the girl.

She didn't, and we relapsed into silence again as we waited for her with bated breath. When she did, it was spoken as the softest whisper and I had to strain my ears to hear her. "Diana. Daughter of Phoebe."

**Once again, read and review! Unfortunately, I'm not sure how often I can update with school in session - I had plenty of time over the weekend... But the next update will be in three days, if everything goes to plan. Then I'll try and work out a schedule from there.**

**Until next time! ~^^~**


	2. Not the Most Pleasant of Jobs

**I am _so_ sorry I couldn't update on thursday. two reasons: homework, and the internet died for a while. D; so i apologize to everyone out there. btw, i'll be updating on Sundays from now on, not including tomorrow. Thank you to everyone who reviewed! i love reviews, you know...**

**disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. And neither should you...**

**Not the Most Pleasant of Jobs**

For the longest moment, I tried to figure out if there was a minor goddess called Phoebe, or something. Then I realized she meant Phoebe the titan. Slow, but… hey, I got there, didn't I?

"You're a demititan," I finally said.

She lifted her chin and then went back to concentrating on the paper.

To put it shortly, and not so nicely, Diana creeped me out. The way she rarely spoke, the way she looked – at me – everything about her was unnatural.

For the longest time, I watched her. Connor kept waiting for me to do something else, so I did and said, "The floor's cold. Why don't you get up?" I held out my gloved hand, as the back of my mind unpleasantly whispered it was the same hand that the gray sisters' tooth touched. She considered it and then reached for it. Her sleeve fell back, exposing her bare skin up to her elbows.

My eyes widen with shock.

She glanced up as I hastily tried to rearrange my expression, but it wasn't fast enough. Then she pulled the sleeve down and dropped her hand, turning around and ignoring me.

I got up and walked out of the cabin. Connor followed me.

"She has cuts. Red cuts. And a deep one too." The words formed condensation in front of me. I let go out the rest of my breath and watched it escape in a steady stream. "She can't be more than twelve."

Connor looked back at the cabin. "How about we get back to the Big House?" he suggested, his tone carefully modulated so that I couldn't tell what he was thinking. We trudged back, snowflakes falling gently onto the ground. All the while, I wondered. _What's _your _story_? _Who saved you… do you hate them?_

Diana was someone who'd been broken.

Back at the Big House, I took my seat and noticed how everyone's gazes were anywhere but meeting mine – or anyone else's. "Well, how did she get here, if she's a demigod?" I asked.

Annabeth spoke up. "A satyr was searching for demigods, and he probably thought she was one too. No one knew she was a demititan until yesterday."

"That's all we know about her? Her name and her parent?" I asked. _And the fact she's depressed_… People nodded around the table. "Did you know she's also tried committing suicide?"

"We know," Katie Gardner said. I didn't think she noticed Travis was making goo-goo eyes at her.

"It's not the best idea to put her in a camp full of swords and arrows, don't you think?" I said dryly and then added, "Not to say she should be kicked out. What are we going to do with her?" I looked at each counsellor, and then at Chiron, who answered, as I expected, being the senior figure and all.

"For now, she will remain here and train like any other demigod," he said. "When the issue about demititans is resolved, we will decide her future."

"Any chance that this decision is to throw her onto the streets?" It was possible. The gods weren't fond of the titans, with the whole war thing and all. But Diana was the daughter of Phoebe – did Phoebe join in the wars?

Chiron nodded, his eyes looking quite sad. He didn't like the idea of abandoning her as much as I did. "It is possible, and there is nothing we can do about it if you don't convince the gods."

There. He said it. I was now responsible for what happened to Diana. _Maybe I should've prepared my arguments a bit more…_ But how was I supposed to know a demititan would arrive in camp – and a suicidal one too?

At least, I thought she was still depressed. She just had that character. Someone who'd given up in life. If it was simple, we could just let her do whatever she wanted – and it would end with her dying by her own hand, and it would just be a problem who willingly got rid of herself. But it _wasn't_ that simple. I wouldn't let her just do away with herself. If she did, I'd never forgive myself. Even if it weren't my fault. For a specific reason, I decided to become responsible for her – freely, this time.

~0~

The atmosphere became lighter once the counsellors adjourned the meeting. Percy and I headed to the sword fighting arena, to brush up on our skills. I was sure Percy had no problem with it and probably practiced a bunch of times, but I hadn't had much practice. When I had just been home for a matter of hours, I'd taken out my sword – and my mom, who happened to be carrying a feather duster at the time, waved the thing at me and said, _No sword fighting in the house._ But I couldn't do it in the backyard either – Mist or no Mist, people would stare. So I just left it in my room, unless I was going out, and then I carried it with me all the time.

"Ready?"

"Hardly. Can I go practice on a dummy before I face you?" I asked. "Please? I don't want to be sliced up into tiny pieces."

"Haha. You must've had at least _some_ practice." He saw my expression and then frowned. "You _didn't_? How did you cope with the monsters?"

"Well, I avoided being home a lot because my mom wouldn't appreciate having a Cyclopes tear down her front door… and half the house… again. Outside? When they attacked, I guess I got training then, but I'm _really_ not as good."

He raised his sword. "Then let's practice now."

An hour later, I had a collected of bruises and cuts. I wasn't sure if there was a piece of unblemished skin anywhere. He could've been easier with the training and everything, but I'd hardly opened my mouth several times to complain when he battered me again.

"Break!" I gasped out before Percy could add another dark splotch on my left arm. "Please."

He handed me a water bottle, the water inside chilled from being outside for so long. I felt like I was drinking in liquid ice. Which technically was water, but it was that cold. I even thought of pouring the bottle over my head – that always helped with the energy – but with weather this cold, it would probably just give me mini icicle extensions to the ends of my hair.

I waited for Percy to finish, staring down at my boots – so not suitable for the cold, or swordplay – and then leaned down to feel the snow. I grabbed a bunch and let it slowly trickle through my fingers. Then I snatched another handful, and brought my hands together, compacting it until the snow was firm. Then I threw it at Percy.

Really, I couldn't help myself. The snow was just right, and the face was worth it. Plus, Percy had his share of injuring me. I laughed sadistically and then squealed as another snowball sailed past my shoulder. "Missed! You suck at aiming." The next snowball plopped into my mouth. I coughed, spitting the snow out, and dropping the ground to gather more snow.

A few rounds later, I ducked snowballs and ran towards the armoury for shelter. The room was cold, and I only had a few seconds to hide until Percy came with the wrath of his snowball army. I found a nicely sized shield and placed it in front of me just as Percy burst through. I held my breath and leaned against the soft wall.

Soft?

Wall?

No. I was… leaning against something… Something soft… like a coat. Hot air breathed into my ear.

Someone.

"Boo," the person whispered.

I shouted and kicked the shield away from me, dropping to the floor just in time to avoid the snowballs. They landed on the person's face and he rose, snow sticking to his face, and wiped it away with his sleeve.

"What in Hades?" he cursed angrily. His face had been covered with dust, and now, half his face was gray with soot, looking like he was wearing some mask.

I attacked Brenton with a hug, and then let go quickly. "You're here! You're supposed to be in Ohio."

He stared down at my leg. "_You're _here. And you're supposed to have a broken leg. Missed me?" he teased, grinning as his hazel eyes brightened. "Thought so. Ohio didn't work out for me, with the monsters and all, so I came back. Why are you here?"

I sobered up. "The new demititan. And the winter solstice is in a few days…"

"Ah, yes," he said gravely. "Hope I didn't scare you back there."

I punched him. "You were hoping to scare me. Anyway, Percy, this is my friend Brenton. Son of Hephaestus."

"Is he just a friend or do I have to beat him up like big brothers do when he breaks up with you?" Percy asked. I threw him a withering look, glad the armoury was sort of dark because I was blushing. "Kidding. Nice to meet you."

They shook formally and then Brenton suggested that we should get back to swordfighting. I wanted to disagree and catch up with him, but Percy told me that I really sucked at swordfighting and needed the practice. So I did, promising Brenton that I'd visit him some other time.

~0~

That night, I snuggled under four layers of blankets inside Cabin Three, which shielded Percy and I from the cold outside. It was a quiet night. Some haunting tune echoed outside. It was a familiar tune.

~0~

The camp was different in winter. It was quiet, and a sense of tranquility hung in the air. After breakfast, I took a walk in the forest. Nico and Mrs. O'Leary joined me, though I was hoping for the walk to be one of those quiet, reflective ones. I didn't have the heart to tell him no, and soon enough, I had a hyperactive hellhound treading my heels, and the prince of hell by my side as I shivered in my thin coat.

"Gray sisters?" Nico asked. I'd just been filling him about my ride to Camp Half-Blood and all the while, he had this look of terror on his face, which was rare as _he_ was the son of the guy who represented the darkness and ghosts and all that. "How did you survive?"

"Barely did, actually. It's unpleasant. I won't go into details to save your stomach."

"How generous." He took out a treat out of his pocket and told Mrs. O'Leary to stop sniffing a tree root. She obeyed, reluctantly, and only after she'd barked at a squirrel to her content. I pulled down Percy's winter hat so it covered my ears. Because it was big on my head, it dropped down to my nose, covering my eyes, and I took it off instead, preferring cold ears to not being able to see. "So. How's school?" Nico asked. "Or do you not know?"

I huffed. "I do know. And I guess I should be proud for saying that, but school is _boring_. My tutor isn't bad, but the work I have to do to make up for missing grades… Annoying. Especially reading Animal Farm. I still didn't get it. Technically, animals can't run their own farm. Lucky you. You get no schoolwork."

Nico stopped in the middle of the path as Mrs. O'Leary did her business. "Ancient Greek. That's all. Chiron tried to get me to learn some math, but I ditched it."

"And Mr. D?"

"Doesn't care. I think he's still trying to hoard wine into camp without his dad noticing." I searched for a sarcastic reply.

_Au clair de la lune… Mon ami Pierrot…_

Why did that tune sound familiar? And why was I thinking of that? The lullaby was faint in my head.

"Do you hear that?" Nico asked. The melody slipped away, partly because Mrs. O'Leary was panted right by my ear. I gently pushed her snout away.

"You hear it too?"

"Unless I'm hearing voices in my head."

"Shh."

_Prete-moi ta plume…_

"Let's check it out," I suggested. Nico didn't argue. Curiousity was overwhelming now. Who was singing… in the middle of the forest… all alone? Maybe not alone, but the voice was really nice. I thought of my friend Cailey, living in Buffalo, and then pushed the idea away. She was in _Buffalo_. Unless the gray sisters managed to reach her too.

We took about five steps when the voice broke off in the middle of the song. The last words hung in the air. _Ma chandelle est morte… morte… morte…_ I caught my breath, feeling something awful had happened to the person. I didn't know French, but _muerto_ in Spanish sounded similar enough to _morte_. _Dead._ I was ready to take off into the run when the words returned and I felt relief.

_Je n'ai plus de feu_…

"Diana?" I called. "Is that you? Diana?" The fragile voice had struck a result. I broke in a run and veered off the path. Nico shouted and chased after me, cursing as we dodged trees. Branches tore at my coat, the sharp edges digging into my arms. "Diana!" The river, frozen from the cold, still had thin ice. Diana could fall in… She could want to fall in. I stepped out of the cover of the trees just as Diana stepped onto the river surface.

"Diana," I said slowly. She looked up at me. Her hair was neatly brushed and her clothes were neat – no wrinkles or anything. I guess she wanted to look best in death. "Come back to the ground."

"No," she said, her voice wavering just slightly.

"Listen, if you fall in, I'm… I wouldn't let you die. I would force the water to work with me, and so that you can't drown." I held my hand out. "Come on." Diana kept looking at it as she breathed quickly – from anticipation, or from fear? I reached out further, waiting for her to connect. She raised her hand, as if to shake it, but it was gripped around something transparent.

An icicle. My eyes focused on the tip. They could be used as a murder weapon, despite my thoughts on how blunt or breakable the tip could be. In fact, in the riddle, _the perfect murder_, the icicle was the answer. You could stab it into someone. The ice would melt, taking away any evidence like fingerprints. Not that I ever had the serious urge to go and murder someone with an icicle.

Diana waited for me to react and then raised her arm. I yelled and tackled her, pushing down on the thin ice, and then having the wind being knocked out of me during the impact, and then having water rush into my lungs as I took my next involuntary gasp of air. The ice had broken, and now we were in the river.

Of course, I had no problem with breathing in water, and was recovering from the shock, when I remembered about Diana. My eyes searched the water as I whipped my head back and forth, trying to see a lock of dark hair, or her cut wrist. I grabbed onto a green object in the water – her jacket – and held on tight as I kicked back up and my head broke the surface of the water.

She stopped thrashing and took in gulps of air wildly. I pushed her onto shore, wondering why she didn't just hold her breath. But survival instinct always rules. Nico hauled her to a safe place and her head turned, and she gave me a stabbing look.

I pulled myself onto solid ground and balled up my cold fists. Not even one grateful word. Why didn't I leave her in to drown? It would be a lot easier. I watched with cold anger as Nico took off his coat and laid it over the shivering girl. She looked so small and pathetic at the moment I stopped clenching my fists. "Let's go. She'll catch a cold out here."

I looked back to the river where the hole in the ice had already resealed itself. If we'd been under there longer, we would've been trapped in a watery grave.

~0~

"_Achoo!_" Diana sneezed. Will Solace hurried over to her bed with a steaming cup of hot chocolate. I felt a pang of jealousy, because all I'd gotten was a cup of tea, and turned to Percy.

"I've been here for not even two days. How can you expect me to watch over her until the winter solstice? If she's not going to cooperate, I'm just going to tell you, I can't do it."

Annabeth had been studying the girl critically. "She'll be in bed for a while. I doubt she can find a way to kill herself by choking on her hot chocolate," she said wryly. "But it's not a good idea to let her on her own. Weren't you supposed to be watching her?"

"Chiron told me to prepare my arguments for the winter solstice, and _kind_ of watch over her, not stalk her," I said and clasped my hands around the cup. "I think we need to take shifts. Even while she's resting up here. You never know when someone carelessly drops a roll of bandages by her and then –"

"Don't give her any ideas!" Annabeth snapped.

"She's listening?" I twisted my head to find that Diana's eyes weren't on her hot chocolate, but rather on us. I sighed. "You know what? You should go."

"But –" Percy protested.

I glared at him. He looked kind of offended to be taking orders from her little sister, but Annabeth dragged him away.

Diana watched. I faced her, crossing my arms, and trying to look authorative though that was kind of hard to do when you're stuck in bed. "Why? We've offered you anything but hostility, and you repay us by finding the next sharp point you see. I don't like having to save you all the time, and if you have any sense of what's right, or what's wrong, you'll do us a favour by staying alive."

She merely stared back. "Then why did you save me, if you really hate me that much?"

"I don't hate you –" Okay, I did. It was _so_ obvious that I detested having to become babysitter to a suicidal freak.

"You didn't have to."

"It's my responsibility. If you die, I feel the guilt," I said.

"Why?"

She was curious. I felt something catch in my throat, and then something like sadness. Then the anger returned, and I spitted out, "None of your business."

**if you're kind and not busy, please review. :D Until next time! ~^^~**


	3. Surprise, Surprise

**Chapter three! I'm going to quickly post this and then memorize the world map for geo. -.- fun... but anyway, thank you to those who reviewed!**

**Disclaimer: if i had all the time in the world to write percy jackson, it still wouldn't be as awesome.**

**Surprise, Surprise (And Not Always the Good Kind)**

I was out of the Big House by the next day with a slight cold. Diana had strict orders to stay in bed until the winter solstice, which made my job a lot easier, because everyone was taking shifts keeping the girl amused. Except she wasn't amused in the first place. After Connor took his turn, he confided in me he wasn't sure if she wasn't brain dead. "She just stares out the window… it creeps me out, Lena," he said as we duelled in the sword fighting arena.

I groaned and ducked a swing. "This isn't going to help with the whole demititan case. We have to get them to be sympathetic of her… what are they going to see right now? A girl who doesn't even want to live. Why bother building a camp for a lot of emo freaks?" I said this in between blows. But not one of them was landing on Connor. It was more as if I was hacking away with my sword.

"You've been working on the case, haven't you?"

"I'm not a lawyer," I glared and swiped at him.

He blocked my attack and knocked the sword away from my hand, and then patted my head. "Yeah, I know, but your chances would be a _lot_ higher if you were one."

"Is this supposed to be funny?"

Connor retreated. "Pissed Lena alert… okay, see you." I watched him practically run to his brother.

I picked up my sword, lying in the snow. I was frustrated… not pissed. And Diana's attitude wasn't helping. You'd think she'd at least act willing to live to repay me saving her life…

Seriously.

Staring at a tree wasn't going to give me sudden persuasive skills so I dragged my sword behind me as I headed to the showers for a nice hot rain bath. To my dismay, it was filled with Aphrodite girls probably applying conditioner for the fifth time (rinse and repeat only meant once) or checking to see if they got every speck of dirt off (otherwise they'd go from dazzling to a hag). They would be in there for another while so I went back to my cabin to crash.

The cabin looked just like how I last left it. Wrappers on the floor, beds unmade, and the desk unused – except for a lone notebook lying on top of it.

_Three days,_ I tried to tell it. _Don't haunt me. I have three days._

Three days meant seventy two hours.

Which meant however many minutes…

Things weren't looking good.

_Stop procrastinating_, one part of my mind said, but the other was repeating that the number of minutes left were far enough. I ignored the lazy part in me and picked up the notebook and pen.

The first page was covered with crossed out words, when I tried writing an address to my speech. _Hello… gods. _Unsure? Impolite? _I would like to thank Zeus for allowing me to speak here today…_ That sounded like I was sucking up to them. Why was I getting involved with politics of the Olympian gods? I wrote down a few half-hearted ideas, decided they were trash too, and scribbled them out. Then I skipped the greetings and went right into the speech itself. _Camp Half-Blood is a haven for demigods, and a place to train them and help them survive. Demitians should have the same privilege…_ It was like I was writing the persuasive speech for English all over again. That had been pathetic. I didn't think I got anyone convinced that we should save the penguins in the end.

A paragraph later, I said it was great progress for today and left it at that. Then I went back out for some tobogganing. Percy stopped me right outside the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked me.

I scowled. "Tobogganing. Who made you my mom?"

He frowned. "Not to nag you or anything..."

"I know I should be working on my speech," I fumed. "But the only way I'm going to even finish this is if Annabeth writes the whole thing."

"Why not?" he asked.

"Why not what?"

"Why not you get Annabeth to write it for you?" he asked slowly. "I'm sure she'll do it."

"Come on," I said. "Who likes writing speeches for fun... especially if that person has dyslexia? I'm in hell here."

"Okay... but I'm not the one who's going to screw up in front of my uncles and aunts... not to mention quite a few cousins..." he said, referring to the council. Actually, it was kind of weird. If you thought about it, Dionysus was my cousin.

I made a face. "I dare you to ask her. If she agrees, then I'll let her."

"It's your speech."

"She's your girlfriend." I stalked away, pulling the hat down on my head. "I'll be at the hill."

~0~

Despite what I knew about Annabeth, I was still shocked to hear she accepted to help me. Apparently she was writing some huge exam and wanted to use my example as practice.

"But," she laid out the terms, "You have to mention that I helped you. Normally I'd leave you on your own –"

"Thanks," I said sarcastically.

" – but these prep books suck." She looked down at them and sighed. They were huge books, several hundred pages long, and my head spun, thinking about the number of words Annabeth had to read.

"Well thanks," I said, this time not sarcastically. "And good luck with your…" I squinted at the title. "Whatever test you're taking."

She took out a notebook and began writing the word 'practice' slowly. "Time me."

"What?"

"Time how long I take to write this speech. I need to finish within twenty-five minutes." She tapped her pencil impatiently, waiting for me to get out a watch.

I didn't have a watch. So I used the alarm clock by someone's bed. "It's four fifty-two… start." Her pencil began scratching against the paper. I stood around uncomfortably and stared at the ceiling, analyzing the battle plan of some guy named Schlieffmen. "Twenty-five minutes? Isn't that a little short for writing something that'll be presented to the gods?"

"Shh," she said.

I shut my mouth and pretended to study the border of France and Belgium with great interest, secretly crossing my fingers behind my back.

Twenty-five boring minutes later, I told her time was up. She was staring out the window absentmindedly, as if waiting for me to announce that. "Done," she said. "Look over it. Throw it out if it isn't good but it's enough practice for one day." Then she gave me the notebook and left the cabin.

I looked down at the letters on the page, my fingers turning white from clutching the notebook so hard. It took me some time to read her essay. When I finished it, I didn't jump up and down screaming, 'Hallelujah, our problems are solved' or anything, but I managed to release some pressure in my fingers to allow them to turn back into their normal shade.

~0~

"Busy?" I asked Brenton.

He looked up from the sword he was forging, with sweat all over his face from the heat. I was also feeling the heat myself and took off the heavy winter coat some girl in Cabin Ten gave me to borrow. It was covered with fake fur and everything, and looked hideous on me, but at least it was warm.

"Depends. Why are you asking?" he said.

"You're never outside. I think you're the busiest demigod in camp." I flung my gloves and my coat down onto the floor. "If you want, I can help," I suggested unhelpfully because we both knew I was a failure with arts and crafts.

He looked doubtfully from me to the sword. "Do _you_ have time?"

"Finished my speech," I said, waving the notebook in the air. "And feeling good about it too. Annabeth did, but she did it voluntarily. Stop looking so suspicious."

"Who would write a speech for fun?" he asked. "I hated English."

"Annabeth, if anyone would," I said. "Yeah, that's what I thought too before she decided she would help me. But anyway, I've got some time before dinner. Teach me how to make a sword?"

He snorted. "I don't think we can spare any metal. I mean, I _can_ let you if you want, but someone's going to end up with a bad sword."

I sighed. He was the only person who could say that to my face and not lose any teeth. "You're nice. How about you do something we can _both_ do? Get out of the armoury. You're spending all your time in here."

He turned off the heat and threw his gloves into the corner. "Suggest a place."

"Zeus's Fist," I said. "The hills. Strawberry field. The beach. I dunno."

"The beach," he decided.

"Why the beach? It's actually kind of depressing going there. You've got the sand... and the snow. Like winter's mocking you."

"You think everything's against you," he teased as we put on our coats. "Besides, it's a lot quieter down by the beach."

"I never knew you like tranquility. You don't come across as the person who'd find someplace quiet and just think."

"It won't be quiet down there with you around," he pretended to sigh. "With your mouth around –"

"You would say anything to insult me, would you?" I asked him.

"That's a harsh way to put it. Deal with it. We both take jabs at each other and no one gives a damn." He squinted. "Did I just hurt your feelings?"

"Yes," I gasped. "Now I'm going to cry in the corner for a few days because of what you said."

"You're impossible."

"So are you."

"Guess that's just our seriously screwed up friendship."

We marched through the snow covered dirt path. The air changed from fresh and crisp to salty like the sea. I smelled the beach before I got there, if that didn't sound too weird.

The waves were something like a reassurance to me. They were the only steady thing in my life. I imagined my father somewhere under the sea commanding his little fishies around or whatever. _There aren't just fishies under the sea_, I thought, remembering our fishing trip. We'd driven to Long Island and I couldn't catch a single thing despite my heritage. So I'd watched my father for most of the day as he caught one fish after another. Then I nearly prematurely died from a heart attack when he reeled in a kraken.

I sat on my favourite rock, kicking the mixture of sand and snow around my foot. Brenton seated himself beside me. I shuffled over. There was just enough space for the two of us to sit together. He pointed up at a tree by the edge of the beach. "That's where we met," he said. "Remember the fourth of July?"

"Mmm. I was watching the fireworks by myself when you came up to me and disturbed my peace," I said. "Not very nice."

"Is that true? Because _I_ remember you invited me up to your branch. Then we talked about stuff. After all the fireworks, you said you had a good time." He grinned. I threw a ball of sand at him.

"Do you really remember every single little detail about that night?"

"Why not?" he shrugged.

I stared down at my boots, trying to think of something witty to say back to him. Soon, we lapsed into silence, consciously aware of the distance between the two of us. Watching the waves, my eyelids dropped lower and lower. I hadn't gotten much sleep in the past few days, thinking about the gods and all. I counted the number of waves crashing onto the beach until I was asleep.

~0~

"Wake up. It's dinner."

"Don't," I mumbled, "disturb me." He probably didn't understand my slurred words. So I tried again except by that time, I was awake. My eyes opened to the beach and I suddenly remembered where I was. By the ocean, in Camp Half-Blood, on my favourite rock. "That's a soft pillow."

"Your soft pillow is my coat," Brenton said.

I fell off the rock with a jolt. "Why didn't you wake me up?" I demanded. "I was sleeping on your shoulder!"

"You were tired," he said. "I thought it would be cruel to wake you up."

"I wasn't tired."

"Lena, you have rings around your eyes. Why are you so upset?" He stared at me like I'd just sprouted ten hydra heads.

He knew exactly why I was upset. I waved my hands in the air uselessly as I tried to answer his question and then just left, stomping away, my cheeks burning.

Maybe that was a bit overdramatic. But that was me. Sarcastic dramatic me. I thought about kicking a tree, but then some angry nymph would probably chase after me so I waited until I was at Nico's cabin and kicked open his door.

He was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. "There's something called knocking."

"I'm not feeling polite today," I said.

"Why aren't you at dinner?"

"Look who's talking. You're never at dinner nowadays. Why?" I asked.

"Because I'm an antisocial emo kid who prefers to eat alone like other children of Hades," he said dryly. "Why in Hades did you just kick down my front door? Or is that just your normal behaviour? _I'm feeling random today so I'll just destroy Nico's cabin_."

I didn't answer for a while. "Fine. I get it. You don't want me around." I kicked at a dirty sock on the floor and then spun around.

"It was supposed to cheer you up," he yelled after me. "Lighten up! This is coming from the guy with a father down under."

"Go and sulk dead boy!" I shouted back. "Why are guys so difficult?"

~0~

If I were still in New York City, school would've ended for me and I would've been pacing my room, dreading the next few days of my family's presence.

Instead, I was here, punching the pillows and tormenting candy wrappers. It took me another five minutes to realize I'd messed up half the cabin and that meant Percy and I would get the lowest mark in cabin inspection, even if the Hermes's cabin was full of slobs. So I cleared my head with a few breaths and threw everything back in place.

Why was I riding on highs and lows? Usually I wasn't _this_ irritable. I regretted shouting at Brenton. He was just trying to be nice. But then I remembered how I'd probably embarrassed myself. What if I'd drooled on his coat or something? My fists balled up in the soft pillow and I broke through the pillowcase with my nails.

Whoops. My cheeks heated up.

And then I felt something like liquid in my underwear.

_Did I just wet myself?_ I hadn't noticed earlier because these days, I was generally wet from the weather. I threw down the pillow and ran to the bathroom to check.

And when I did, I screamed.

~0~

"This is _so_ embarrassing," I mumbled to the pillow.

Annabeth looked kind of embarrassed too, but she said, "It's natural for a girl to get their period. By the way you screamed bloody murder, I'm guessing it's your first time."

"This is even worse than..." After I'd screamed, half the camp rushed to the bathrooms thinking some dracanae took off the roof, and that the border had somehow failed. Instead they found me huddled in the bathroom stall, refusing to come out. I didn't think the guys hesitated before busting into the girl's bathroom. "The entire camp now knows of my... predicament. Oh Zeus." I groaned.

"You could always pretend it was a bad bout of diarrhoea," Annabeth muttered from her corner of Cabin Three. She'd been kind enough to force everyone who wasn't a girl and some girls to go back to the pavilion and continue eating dinner so I could escape. "But a bunch of people are arriving here in about ten minutes so I don't think you'll get to hide out here much longer."

"Who?"

"Campers. People coming along with us for the field trip to Olympus." I snorted at the phrase 'field trip'.

"That's nice."

"Cailey will be here," Annabeth added in a nonchalant tone.

I exhaled loudly. "Finally. A _pleasant_ surprise for once."

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	4. Just When Everything's Okay

**Holy schmoltz this week has been busy. o_o I've been applying for school photographer so I had to leave writing this chapter until today... when I had to do my latin too, thanks to my crazy teacher who assigns lots of work and brings a lumberjack saw to class (no kidding). So I'm sorry this chapter is short and not the best. I would work on it more but I've got drawing lessons to go to.**

**Disclaimer: _ (Fill in something witty here)**

**Enjoy! **

**Just When Everything's Okay**

By the campfire of the second last evening before our trip to Olympus, our numbers had increased by at least ten people, which meant we had to fight for front row seats to the campfire again. So once Chiron dismissed us after announcements, I hopped from my table and sprinted for the front row log seats along with half the other campers, much to the disapproval of the centaur. Thanks to my mad sprinting skills, I claimed a log for me and my friends to sit at, smirking at a scowling Mark.

"Over here! I called to my friends. Cailey towing Atalanta behind her got to me first. I sat in the middle and they seated themselves on my right. Each log could hold four people. I looked around for the last person.

"Hey," Nico greeted. "Can I sit? Rachel came back from Clairon. Percy, Annabeth and Grover kicked me out."

Cailey smiled.

I frowned. "Actually… Brenton's sitting with us." His grin slipped off his face. "But Atalanta can sit on your lap, right, Cailey?" I hurriedly added. Unfortunately, Cailey looked horrified at the thought of letting her hyper little foster sister sit on her lap. "_Or_ she can sit on my lap!"

_What did you just say._

"What?" Nicio looked blank.

"What?" Cailey echoed. "You hate Atalanta."

I scowled. "I don't hate her… she just shouldn't have knocked me into the river yesterday."

"It was an accident," Cailey sighed.

"An accident all three times?"

Nico rubbed his gloved hands together. "Look, if you really want to save the seat for this Brenton dude then I'll just go and find some other place –"

"Atalanta!" I commanded. "Sit here." She plopped down on my lap happily. "Plenty of space – _stop pulling my hair!_" I took Atalanta's wrist and pushed it away.

"I can take her if you want," Cailey offered.

"I'm fine!"

Nico sat down uncertainly. Ever since a few days ago when I got 'initiated into womanhood' he'd been very careful not to piss me off. Same with Brenton. Right now, I was a fuse dunked into gasoline a hundred times over.

"It's cold," Atalanta moaned.

"That's because the fire didn't start yet," I said as patiently as I could. "When it does, we'll be really warm."

She didn't believe me and reached to the fire to warm her hands. I slapped them away. Nope, little kids weren't my thing.

"Saved a spot for me, I hope," Brenton said. "Sorry, Paul forgot how to tie his shoelaces again." He looked down. "What are you doing here?"

Nico mistakened his surprise as hostility. "Campfire. No duh," he said coldly which was pretty damn cold for a son of Hades. "Are you going to sit or no?"

Brenton asked him to move over. Just to get on his nerves, he did. Towards the middle where Atalanta was pulling on my hair again. Brenton's eye twitched.

"You're so cruel," I said.

"I am who I am." He scowled. "Anyway, it's just fun to see what he'd do. You know he –"

"Sorry we're late!" the Stoll brothers shouted and interrupted whatever Nico was going to say. Everyone turned to look at them jogging over. Katie Gardner seemed to realize they came from the direction of her cabin and dashed off, away from the campfire. Travis and Connor pushed a kid off – comically, of course, and announced that we could stop waiting for them. So we started passing out marshmallows and the tension eased, thankfully.

Once we were done 'By the Aegean Sea' Katie Gardner disrupted our happiness turning fifteen feet high flames to two feet high ones by screeching, "Travis and Connor Stoll!" She looked absolutely murderous. "You decorated our cabin with plastic mistletoe!"

Travis leaned over and muttered something into Connor's ear. Connor said something about Plan B. Then as we all watched, he walked over to Katie and kissed her.

The flames grew higher with shocked silence.

Katie bunched her fists.

We cheered as Travis pulled back and all our marshmallows set on fire.

But Katie just stomped the ground and stalked off.

The flames crackled with disappointment, slowly quietening down and we tried not to look at Travis, but out of curiosity, we did. He was disappointed. "I think it's the Easter eggs from two years ago," he hypothesized.

"Definitely," Connor agreed, patting his brother on the back. "Well it was worth a shot." They sat down, whispering among themselves.

Will Solace strummed up a tune to liven things up. I looked down at my charred marshmallow and took a bite out of it although it tasted like ashes. Then I fished out another marshmallow from the bag and poked the stick into the flames as everyone sang in an off key tune.

Enter Katie.

She was trailing the branch of plastic mistletoe behind her. Her cheeks were bright red and she tapped on Travis's shoulder. He turned around and raised his hand instinctively. The campers fell silent.

"Stand up," Katie ordered.

Connor pushed his brother up. Travis rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Er… I didn't really… that was… uh… part of the prank."

Katie stared. "Really? I don't believe you." She took the mistletoe and wrapped it around Travis's neck and jerked roughly. Then she put her hand to one of the ends and I was close enough to see that the mistletoe lost its plastic texture. It was the real thing. "You did it wrong, you idiot," Katie said and kissed him.

We cheered again and the flames killed the marshmallows into black tasteless lumps.

~0~

Everyone was feeling pretty Christmas spirited after Katie and Travis got together. Sure, it wasn't exactly an ancient Greek holiday but everyone wanted an excuse to send and receive gifts. Chiron told us that Mr. D was forbidding us from celebrating Christmas but decorations went up anyway.

I helped hang up the bulbs for the tree. It was either this or going to the archery range as directed on my schedule, and as far as I remember, Cabin Seven banned me from the range two days ago after accidentally shooting a flaming arrow at a tree.

After the tree was fully decorated, I hung out at the armoury, not to learn how to forge a sword, but because it was freezing outside and the heat inside was one of my top priorities. Unfortunately, it was on the list of twenty other campers so I left without saying a word to Brenton.

For the rest of the day, I hopped around from place to place, counting down the hours until the bus would leave at nine thirty, which meant we'd arrive just in time for the winter solstice at midnight.

Somehow, I ended up in Nico's cabin. I was searching for heat, and Nico's cabin was lit with torches so I put two and two together.

And got five.

It was somehow colder in Nico's cabin. It was _Hades's_ cabin after all. I shivered while Nico walked around in an orange t-shirt, completely oblivious to the temperature.

"We're seeing our parents," I said. "Nervous?"

"Sort of. Not really. You? How's things between you and your dad?"

I recited what happened at the fishing trip to him. "So I guess we're okay. But I'm still kind of nervous. Like he might think I'm a failure or something after I present my points about the demititan camp."

Nico, being Nico, said, "Yeah, he probably will." Which was very reassuring. I told him that and he shrugged. "What do you want me to say? _You do well, don't worry!_ You won't believe it yourself. Unless you get Brandon to say it to you."

"Brenton," I corrected.

Nico kicked a wrapper into the garbage can. "Whatever. I don't like him. He's too sarcastic and smug."

"I'm sarcastic and smug," I said.

"But you're you."

"Makes total sense." I took out my notebook and switched the topic.

~0~

"You're getting me something for Christmas, aren't you?" Percy asked.

"Of course," I lied. _Haven't thought of that yet._ Then without another word, I headed off to the arts and crafts house to start on some handmade present before we were supposed to leave for Mount Olympus. But Percy called me back and told me to get my stuff. Turns out we were leaving earlier than I thought. I disappeared back into the cabin one last time to get my sword and dagger and some other things of mine just in case a monster decided buses with demigods were very yummy.

Annabeth was at the door of the bus, making sure everyone boarded the bus. She looked down at me. I was a few centimetres shorter than her. "You're sitting at the front with Diana," she said.

"What?" I protested. "Come on, Annabeth, she hates me!"

Annabeth was firm. "You go in and sit with Diana, or you go in and sit with Atalanta. Cailey needs the help. She's exhausted."

I ran my hand through my hair, recalling last night when Atalanta had ripped out more than a few strands of my hair. _Would I rather sit next to a suicidal girl or hell? _I chose Diana.

"But if she hurtles herself out a window –" I started.

"Then _you_ sit next to the window," Annabeth replied briskly and told me to hurry up, there was a line behind me.

Diana sat next to me. I eyed her. "No tricks and I'll be nice to you. Okay?"

Diana nodded – one shake of her head – and looked down at her hands, absently tracing the scar.

I got my knees onto the bus seat and turned around to talk to Cailey. The bus drove off from Camp Half-Blood. I watched the strawberry fields disappear and listened to Cailey talk about a monster attack on Halloween night.

"Everyone thought it was just some guy wearing a lame costume," she said. "But they also thought my bow and arrows were part of my costume so –"

"What were you?" I asked.

She shrugged. "I put on some Robin Hood style stuff – boots, cape, but I was really in it for the candy." She fell quiet. "Wait, you have your speech with you, right?" she asked.

I reached into my pocket. "Ye…" Then I swore.

~0~

"Please tell him to turn back," I pleaded with Chiron.

"Sit down Elena," he replied. "I'm sorry I can't help you. We're behind schedule. If we turn around we'll be late and very possibly anger the gods."

"The gods need to take a chill pill," I muttered. "Please?"

"No. Sit down."

It took a bump on the road and a bump on my head from crashing against the roof to convince me to stay seated.

Diana asked me what was wrong. I dug my fingers into the seat, breaking through the plastic. "I am _so_ screwed."

**Right under this line is a blue button that says 'Review'... it's a magical button because if you press it, I'll be happy. =]**

**Until next time! ~^^~**


	5. I Get Arrested  Ish

**Hans Zimmer is a genius. Just saying. :D **

**Okay I know it's a bit late... but sorry? even though Thanksgiving is tomorrow for us Canadians, teachers have been piling up projects. And I'm a photographer for our school's yearbook! yay! **

**So I don't own PJ&O, now no one's disillusioned.**

**Read and review!**

**I Get Arrested – Ish **

"It's okay," Diana soothed in her quiet voice. I looked up at her in surprise.

"Diana," I said. "Whether or not you get a safe place – probably whether or not you _live_ depends on what I tell them. If I go completely unprepared and probably give them total bull, they're going fry you into pieces."

Diana tucked a piece of hair behind her hair. "It's okay. You know, the whole thing is pointless."

"Great for installing confidence."

Diana ignored me. "I'm never going to be accepted. My dad abandoned me; all my foster families thought I was a freak. Even now I know the answers, I'm still alone."

"Well, I'm on your side, even if I seem bitchy to you," I said. "Is that why you…"

"Tried to kill myself?" she said flatly. "Think about it. It's a lot easier if I'm out of the way. I was only helping everyone."

~0~

42nd street was just how I remembered it. Busy and swarming with tourists. Now that all the workers had gone home, loads of visitors came to replace their numbers, although it was almost freaking midnight. I hopped down from the bus, keeping a close eye on Diana.

For a scary second, I thought I lost her.

I grabbed her bandaged wrist a bit too tightly and told her not to wander off. She twisted her wrist away, crossed her arms, and stared off into another direction. I shook my head and told myself I had more urgent issues.

Like the fact that I was probably going to mess up in front of the gods.

Annabeth laughed as Percy pretended to push her off the steps of the bus. She lost her balance for a moment and careened into me. "Sorry Lena!" She straightened herself. "Why so glum? You've got your speech –"

"Nope."

"Well, I'm not going to ask how _that_ happened," she muttered. "How can you not have it?"

"I left it at camp?" I suggested. "Can you whip up another speech for me?"

Annabeth frowned. "Listen, we'll be in front of everyone's daddys and mommys in five minutes. You think I can write one worthy of the Olympians in that time period? I don't have a pencil anyway." Then she began lecturing me for another few minutes about how important it was to remember things when she could've wrote the speech.

"I get it," I mumbled after she paused to take a breath. "Come on, we're behind the others." I stuck a hand into the elevator, effectively stopping the doors from closing and shutting us out.

"Why do you hafta come in?" a nine-year old moaned. "It's so cramped." It was true. There was maybe enough space to fit one more person in.

"Shut it," I snapped.

"Is she a daughter of Ares?" the boy whispered to his sibling.

I pushed Annabeth in. "Push the up button several times for me, will you?"

"What?" she asked.

"We're late!" howled the boy. The doors closed and shut me out. I closed my eyes and paced back and forth in the lobby. No one from camp was here with me. I was the last person. Maybe I could run outside and ditch the stupid council.

Nope. Couldn't do that. I didn't do all the worrying over the past few days for nothing. I slumped against the wall and waited for the next elevator.

"Darling, I think the building's closed," a man said to his wife. They were obviously tourists. The 'I love NYC' t-shirts, heavy backpacks, and cameras dangling from their necks said that.

"Rob, I just saw a bunch of kids go in," the wife sighed. "Let's keep waiting."

"It's almost midnight, for god's sake!"

"We're leaving tomorrow... Let me get a few pictures first."

Rob grumbled something not nice.

11:48. Twelve minutes. I remembered that I needed to get a special card from the security guy to get to Olympus. Last time, I'd dropped the sword in front of him to prove that I wasn't just some crazy girl going up to the observation deck. I wondered if he still remembered that, but the guy at the security desk was different. He'd just gotten on his shift.

"Get some coffee for me too," he called to a man leaving.

I smirked and pulled the dagger out. Then I approached him. "Now listen, I need the key."

He looked up at me blankly.

"To the highest floor," I said. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way." The security guy looked absolutely horrified when I took out the dagger. Only when he pressed the red button did I think that _maybe_ this guy didn't know about the six hundredth floor. "Hold on," I began. Wasn't mist supposed to disguise the dagger into something else?

"Put the gun down," some burly guy burst into my view, holding one of his own. In seconds, five big men surrounded me.

_Gun. Dagger. I just _love _mist_. I swore and dropped it down. The others flinched, as if they thought it was a bomb. One guy came up and handcuffed me. "What the hell guys!" I shouted. "I'm just freaking thirteen."

"Delinquents these days," I heard one guy mutter to another. Then with my hands behind my back, my sword, and dagger confiscated, I was shoved with the butt of a gun on my back to some random place. As if I didn't have enough problems already.

~0~

"Why did you threaten the security guard with a gun?"

I sighed. "No, you see, it's not a gun... it's a..." but I figured 'dagger' would just give me strange stares and it definitely wasn't going to help me in any way. "Look, if you give it to me, I can show you it doesn't go off."

The man interrogating me sneered. "Like I am _that_ dumb."

Yeah, dumb enough to think the dagger was a gun. I rolled my eyes and would've crossed my arms but unfortunately, my wrists were still cuffed. "For gods' sake, I'm thirteen!" I yelled again, losing my temper. They'd gotten used to that by now. The guy in front of me didn't even blink when I spat the words out to his face. He got out a tissue and pretended to dab at his cheek. I sat back in the chair. The man clicked his pen and wrote something else in the notebook, probably like _very irritable, like a ticking bomb_.

I twisted my neck around to see my watch. 12:43. Yep, I was late for the council. Although I probably should've been worried about not getting arrested first. "Isn't there some kind of policy against this? I'm not eighteen."

"For all we know," the guy said out of the corner of his mouth as he looked down at his notes, "You could be forty."

"I can prove it," I said, trying not to be offended by the forty comment.

"You have ID on you?"

I jangled the cuffs. "In my backpack."

He looked to the side. "Look –"

"Zeus!" I shouted, which was when they decided I was totally insane. "Get your butt down here and save me so I can be there for your freaking council!" I didn't really think he'd answer –

And that was when Hermes decided to drop by for a visit. He just popped in like _that_ with his caduceus phone to his ear. "… not my problem if I can't –" he snapped his phone shut. "She disconnected from me," he said. "Oh well."

The guy in the chair had fallen backwards. I laughed quietly after I recovered from the shock. Hermes looked around him. The three guards looked stunned and didn't move until the man on the ground told them to _hurry up and arrest him_.

"For what?" I taunted. "For using magic?"

Hermes snapped his fingers and the cuffs came off. The security guards stared in fear. "You are in a lot of trouble, kid," he said, not looking quite pleased himself. "Being late and having to get rescued by the gods doesn't help with the sympathy thing.

I rubbed my raw wrists. "I figured," I said dryly. "And I'm so sorry. For… bossing Zeus around and not being there. _But_ it wasn't exactly my fault I was arrested."

"Yes, it technically was. You could've used a much subtler approach with the security guard, and you've let your guard down," Hermes said. I knitted my fingers together, avoiding his look.

"Who are you?" One guy finally asked.

"Oh yes, the mortals," Hermes said dismissively and snapped his fingers again. They fell down, unconscious. "They'll be out for a while, but they'll still remember about you."

"Wait, why?" I demanded.

"The gods aren't happy, so being wanted is your punishment," he said happily.

"Fu-n," I corrected myself in time. "Like a game of cops and robbers. Fun. Fun," I muttered. "Can we please get to the council now, sir?"

~0~

I think I made sort of a dramatic entrance. With Hermes slightly in front of me, we arrived during a lull. Everyone turned to look at us. I took a breath to calm my racing heart. But along the way I kind of choked and coughed a few times.

All twelve Olympians, including some greasy guy with dark hair were sitting on thrones in the U I saw last summer. A giant fire burned. Camp Half-Blood seemed to be modeled after the throne room. Everything was like… whoa. If I had a camera, I would've probably taken a bunch of photos right there but I didn't have one and all the gods were sort of glaring at me. Hermes changed into his scary giant mode and sat on his seat.

I turned the point of my sword on the ground. Everything taken away to be confiscated was given back to me. And I was glad I got it back because I was shaking really hard and the sword was like a cane to me.

Camp Half-Blood campers were standing up in front of the gods. They'd also turned to look at me. Percy looked surprised, Nico was just doing that same scowl, and Cailey was looking confused like _why in Hades are you fifty minutes late_?

"I'm sorry," I said and swallowed. Zeus had that expression that told you to be on the lookout for his lightning bolt. Poseidon looked disappointed the only way fathers could. I bowed my head a little, blood rushing to my cheeks and biting my lower lip.

"You should be," Zeus grumbled. "And for that, you have lost some dear points."

I couldn't meet Diana's eyes. In fact, my eyes went everywhere but the people and gods themselves. "Please give me a chance, Lord Zeus," I said. "I know I haven't pleased you at all today, but if you can…" _cheesy line alert, _I thought and decided to take out the 'find forgiveness in your heart'. Seriously. Zeus's heart? Not a pleasant thought… a red lump spewing out golden ichor. _Oh my god I really do have ADHD._

"Continue?" Hera – I thought it was Hera because of the peacock style hair – said impatiently.

"Oh yes. If you can forgive me, then I would be happy to bring up the topic I suggested to you back in summertime."

Zeus stroked his long beard. Huh. People with beards really do that. "For your lateness, you know you will be on the mortal police records for lookout," he said.

"Hermes told me," I said. The presence of the thirteen gods were really getting to me. It was like all my cells just decided to scream extravagant suicide and I would burst into flames.

Artemis spoke. She was glowing silver in the moonlight. I looked at her twin, Apollo, who'd I'd met last summer (and thought he was… hot). He was totally disinterested. Or at least it seemed like it because he was listening to his Ipod. "I would actually like to hear this girl's proposition. From what you've said, it sounds interesting."

_Yay?_

"Fine," Zeus said, unable to reject his daughter's wishes. "Go. Speak away."

I thought about clearing my throat. "Diana can you come here?" I waved her over. She looked a little scared but came to stand by my side. "Don't worry," I said to her. "Diana's a demititan," I announced. "You probably know that by now. She's the daughter of Phoebe. Raise your hand."

She raised her right arm.

"The other one," I said. She gave me a questioning look and brought her arm up. "Now turn your palm to face everyone." After she complied, I pulled down on the sleeve.

There was a collection of gasps from the gods and the campers too. Travis and Connor were staring with identical looks of confusion. Annabeth stamped her foot and muttered _idiot_ and something about the weak point. Everyone was trying not to stare at her wrist but they did nonetheless.

"As you can see," I adopted a brisk tone, "Diana tried to kill herself." The demititan looked like she wanted to slap me. "_Obviously_. Why?" I asked her.

She went back to the scared expression. "Because I'm never wanted."

"Why?"

Her hand was trembling. I let her lower it. "I'm a demititan," she said in a shaking and loud voice. "You know why."

"And that's why demititans need to start belonging. They need a place like Camp Half-Blood. We can't pretend they don't exist or tell them they're not wanted or _that_," I pointed to Diana's wrist, "will happen."

"Their parents," Hera said.

"Are titans, I know. But aren't you too? Aren't we all connected to the Titans through some blood relation? Are you saying you too should be kicked around like an outcast?"

Hera fell silent.

Apollo clapped. "_You_ could become a lawyer one day," he said and cleared his throat. "_She silences us_ –"

"No poems," Artemis groaned. "Not today Apollo."

"Tomorrow?"

All the gods told Apollo they would really be fine without his haikus. Apollo slouched on his throne, frowning like a spoiled child being denied something they'd really been hoping for.

"We cannot ignore the risks of extended our trust to the demititans," Athena mused. "Diana may be willing to help us, but what about other demititans? Not everyone will react the same way. Some may betray us."

"Yes," Dionysus said. "That's exactly why there should be one camp only. One for the half-bloods. I'm busy enough without two. The brats at Camp Half-Blood –"

"Yes, yes, we know about your troubles," Hades yawned. He adjusted the oily held on his head. "You told us last time… and the time before that…"

"So it's either for a new camp, or screw the demititans?" Apollo asked, pulling the earphones from his ears. "If that's the case –"

"No," Athena said. Annabeth stood up a little straighter. "I have another few ideas. Because demititans are so rare, there is no need for a separate camp. How about just a separate cabin? Then Dionysus won't have two camps as he is already 'busy enough without two'." She said the last words sarcastically and threw a withering look at him. Dionysus yawned back – as if being bored was the best he could do – and the smell of sour grapes saturated the air, a sign that he was quite offended. "I also propose we find more demititans and bring them to Camp Half-Blood for a while – say six months – before we make any major decisions. Like a study group."

Zeus considered. "All in favour of searching for more demititans?"

I counted the hands quickly with a sinking feeling in my stomach. Seven out of thirteen.

Zeus sighed. "Alright then. We will search for demititans and then continue with this issue at the summer solstice for a progress report."

This wasn't what I expected. I'd expected for me to get a camp, or for me to get rejected. I guess I was a little disappointed because Diana put a hand on my shoulder and told me, "It's a start. Thanks."

"All in a day's work," I said.

The gods continued talking quietly among themselves.

The Olympians left the giant room. Chiron told the campers to shush and then left Annabeth in charge before he came over to me and Diana. "You do know that when they mean by searching for more demititans, they expect you to do it."

I huffed. "I know. I'm the demigod, I do the work. What? Should I put out an ad or something? _Has this ever happened to you? Been chased by monsters? Abandoned by your parents? Call…"_ I looked up expectantly.

Chiron pursed his lips. "There will be several parties in search. And by in search, I mean as in a quest."

**And that's it for this chapter! Now imma go and leave you guys to tell me what you think!**

**Until next time! ~^^~**


	6. The Prophecy Really Sucks

**OKAY. I finished the lost hero a few days ago and now imma rant about it (NO SPOILERS DON'T WORRY): OMFG HOW CAN YOU, RICK RIORDAN, BE SO EVIL TO LEAVE US ON SUCH A BIG EFFING CLIFFHANGER AND THEN SAY ON THE NEXT PAGE THE NEXT BOOK IS COMING OUT A YEAR FROM NOW?**

**Okay, rant done. x.x GO AND READ IT... if you trust my judgement. :)**

**And without further ado - no wait, i dont own percy jackson - here's the next chapter.**

**The Prophecy Really Sucks**

Though the Olympians had decided to go outside and dance to whatever tunes the Muses were playing, I was busy blowing my top. Not that I screamed or anything – if my voice wasn't so sore from talking so much I would've – but I did go from white to red to every other possible colour in the spectrum.

"A quest," I finally said after I calmed down enough to stop acting like a chameleon.

"Yes," Chiron confirmed.

I stared at the fountain outside so hard the water pressure increased and the unlucky few who were close enough got sprayed by an angry fish. "Why me? I had my quest last summer."

"You know why…"

I took a few breaths and stomped off to a corner of the throne room. Most campers had gone outside to join the fun but I walked straight to the cow fish.

"Life sucks," I told it.

It mooed reproachfully.

"I'm talking to a freaking cow… My mind's going insane. You know that?"

She mooed again.

"Can I call you Bessie?"

Unfortunately, I didn't get much time with Bessie because Cailey had to be the good friend and tried to get me to forget all about what Chiron told me by dragging me outside into the courtyard and pushing me right into the wrath of the dancing crowds. Zeus and Hera were dancing together though neither looked to happy and it was probably more of an appearance thing. Apollo had finally taken off his earphones and was demonstrating a dance move so ancient my grandparents probably watched their grandparents use it. Hermes was hovering at the edge with his cell phone at his ear, yakking away about how the warranty only lasted two thousand years and no more. I stood still and watched Percy painfully lead the dance although all he was doing was stepping on Annabeth's toes. Katie and Travis were sitting on the bench, talking shyly.

I looked around for refreshments and bumped straight into my dad.

"Lena," he said.

"Hi pops," I replied, and immediately regretted it because Poseidon was looking a little offended. "So, feeling productive? You gods made all the decisions… now all you have to do is watch us demigods do the rest."

He frowned at my bitter tone. "Elena, I know you are upset on having to go on another quest. But if this is something you really want –"

"I'm thirsty, are you?" I asked and grabbed two drinks from the nearest guy. He protested. "I know it's like… for the greater good but I think I've already had my fair share of adventure."

The guy tapped me on the shoulder. "These are _my_ drinks."

I poured it on his head. "Yes they are!" Then I slipped away before Poseidon could reprimand me or the demigod could maul me into pieces.

Poseidon, being the god he was caught up anyway. "Elena," he said sternly. "If you are not careful about the way you act or what you say, you will end up getting shocked by your uncle's lightning bolt. Grow up."

The words stung me. "I am. Okay?" I said. "I'm trying. But when there are people in this world who don't –"

"Your actions have caused your problems." His hand closed around my wrist. Oh crap, here was the parental speech.

"You have no right to lecture me," I managed. "I only met you half a year ago. You never visited… remind me why you fell in love with mom only to have dumped her and then stayed away for thirteen years?"

"My duties as a god –"

I broke down and starting sobbing. "Nothing is _fair_. You know I still have nightmares about Procrustes? And the Cyclopes? Now I have to go through all that all over again." It wasn't in my plan to start crying, but the frustration had been building up so long.

Poseidon awkwardly patted my head and went into all that 'hurrah, you're a hero' kind of speech. I hung my head limply as Camp Half-Blood campers stared at me, probably thinking, _That's LENA?_ _Getting lectured by her dad? And she's listening?_ I wanted them to look away. Their glares were like piercing me, full of jealousy. _Why can't Apollo/Hermes/Ares act like that once in a while?_ They didn't know how awkward it was for me.

"You're helping someone," he said, sneaking a glance at Diana, who was sitting on a bench alone, watching Nico pour his drink into the fountain. "That girl…"

"Thanks for boosting my self-esteem," I sighed. "I'm going to go dance now. My favourite song's playing." Not that he knew what my favourite song was. The Muses were playing whatever music the listeners wanted to listen to, and right now, a bunch of guitars were blaring loudly, which was far from my music taste. I cringed at the shouting and made sure my eyes didn't look too puffy. The emotional roller coaster I was riding was more than I could take.

"You okay?" Brenton asked and offered me a drink that looked like fruit punch. I took it. "You were pretty upset back there."

"I have to go on another quest," I said. "The last one only lasted for like… two days. This one's official, how long will I be gone?"

"You all better?"

"I'm fine." The Muses switched to a familiar tune and my cheeks turned red.

He noticed it. "What?"

"This song… my parents always danced to it on their anniversary," I muttered. "I always thought it was stupid and cheesy, because they were the only people dancing in the living room, but… But things haven't been going well at home recently."

"No?" he raised an eyebrow.

"To put it short, marriage counselling didn't work. I think they might be getting a divorce… I don't know. My mom's a wreck." I left out the details of the night of their fifteenth anniversary.

"Things happen," he said. "Your mom will be fine." I shook my head but I couldn't help feeling hopeful, and sipped on the fruit punch. The song changed into another instrumental piece. It sounded a bit hopeful. I cocked an ear to the Muses. "You know what's weird?" he asked.

"What?"

"We're in the middle of the courtyard, but we're the only ones not dancing." He grinned. I was about to tell him there was no way I was going to boogie down or anything when he offered a hand.

I bit down a grin. "I'm a safety hazard when it comes to dancing. Just a warning."

"Great. I'll make you look skilful."

And then after a rough start where I nearly crashed into a minor goddess, we settled for a simple swaying back and forth.

~0~

When my legs stopped working, I headed to Nico at the fountain. He looked uncomfortable and a bit lonely, counting the number of drachma coins the fountain was filled with. "Hey," I said and pulled my boots off though it was a bit cold. "My feet hurt like hell," I moaned. "Have you danced yet?"

He reached for a coin and flicked it in the air, and then caught it. "Tails," he said to himself. "No."

"Why not?"

"I don't dance. Can you see me dancing?" he snorted. I gave up trying to persuade him. "Besides, I'm not feeling lonely. I've got Diana staring at me." He subtly nodded to the corner.

"She's lonely," I said. "Why don't you dance with her?"

"She freaks me out."

I hit him with a boot. "Nico diAngelo, you are the most cold-hearted boy I know. A dance won't hurt."

"When I'm dancing… wait, that doesn't make sense. _I don't dance_." He dodged my next boot. "Fine! Fine!" And then I kept a close eye on him as he asked Diana if she wanted to dance. And then came back with red face. "She doesn't want to dance."

"Okay, maybe I was wrong," I grumbled. "Why so red? Can't take being turned down?"

"Shut up," he said. "I'm going back to the bus. This party's lame."

I wondered if I should follow him. Hades watched with disapproval written all over his face. I turned my head back to the mass and watched Percy's lame attempts to dance. It was enough entertainment to last me quite a long time.

Finally, Chiron rounded all the remaining campers when all the Olympians stumbled back to the palace. Maybe my eyes weren't working, but they seemed a bit rowdy, and maybe a little drunk on nectar.

The Muses finished for the night and got applauded by all the minor goddesses and gods.

"Night's over," Chiron yawned. "Let's get back on the bus."

We obediently trudged back to the elevator, past flirting minor gods and goddesses, and ducking snowballs along the way. I felt like collapsing. It had been hours since I last got sleep. I almost dozed off in the elevator if Brenton hadn't tapped my head and said I was drooling all over his coat.

Although Nico had left hours ago, he was the last one to board the bus. He looked like he'd been jogging for some time, and was wide awake.

"Where've you been?" I asked through half-closed eyes as he plopped down on a seat opposite of mine.

"Central park," he said.

"Why so late? You could've been mugged," I said.

His mouth twisted into a wry smile. "Funny you should say that. This gang came up to me and told me to give them all their money or they'd shred me into pieces. That knife he was holding was big too."

I sat up straighter in my seat. "No way. Well? How come you're not in pieces. Did you give the money?"

He scowled. "Of course not. I took out my own blade." He patted the Stygian Iron blade at his side. "Whatever they saw through the Mist, they didn't like it. Got the hell out of there rather quickly."

"Isn't that nice," I said, settling against the back of the seat. "Wake me up when we're there."

"I'm not an alarm clock."

"Shh."

~0~

Things settled back to normal pretty quickly, except everyone had this sort of Christmas cheer and Diana was out of the Big House. She got put with Cabin Eleven because there wasn't a cabin for Phoebe… hopefully, yet.

Travis and Connor didn't say anything when she first moved in, and acted like she was just some other unclaimed demititan, but I overheard Chris Rodriguez telling Clarisse in javelin practice that Diana didn't do anything, didn't train, or participate, no matter what Travis and Connor threatened to pull on her if she remained stubborn. I sighed and must've not been looking properly because Clarisse fell to the ground after a pinging sound from her helmet.

"Not even armour works around her," Clarisse said, a bit dazed, but lost none of her hostile attitude as she commanded me to do ten push ups as a punishment.

I ended up coughing out snow from my mouth.

Wednesday, December the 23rd, I was summoned to the Big House to talk to Chiron about when I should leave for the quest.

"Not before Christmas," I pleaded. "I don't want to spend it in an alleyway."

He frowned. "As Greeks, we don't celebrate Christmas."

"What about Yule?"

"Germanic."

"Damn." I ignored the look he gave me for swearing. "But sir, Christmas is about spending the day with friends and families, not eating food in a fast food restaurant with only the server for company." I tried giving him a pleading look, and he relented.

"I suppose we can push the date to the 26th," he said. "Have you thought about where you're going to find the demititans?"

"I haven't got a clue," I admitted. "Maybe I can look through newspaper articles for freaks of nature. That'll _totally _work."

Chiron frowned again. "There must be an easier way. Perhaps you should find that demititan you met last summer. He may know of others if he is unwilling to come to camp."

"But…" I sighed. "How many demititans do we need?"

"Three is enough. Diana, that boy, and another demititan."

"But if Alec doesn't come… I'll have to find another demititan." I realized that despite all the months, I still knew his name. I mean, you do remember names of the guys who tried to kill you, right? "And what if he's uncooperative?"

Chiron shrugged. "I believe he will be. This is a chance to help other like him. Surely he will do a favour for you for that."

~0~

The truth was, nothing special happened on Christmas day. We woke up, got ready for cabin inspection –

Actually, I think I left out one detail.

We woke up to a freak of a winter storm. Snowflakes rained down on Percy and I, settling in our dark hair and between the folds of my blanket. I looked up.

"TRAVIS AND CONNOR STOLL. OUR ROOF." Or maybe it was like 'Travis and Connor stole our roof' but the point was, the roof of our cabin was _gone_. It simply dissolved into the still dark sky.

The brothers themselves appeared in our doorway. "Gods, we're needed everywhere today," Connor Stoll yawned. "I can't believe you slept through Cabin Ten's complaints about dandruff."

Percy looked seriously pissed to have woken up at five a.m. "Come on guys, I actually wanted to sleep late for once," he complained and rubbed his eyes. "Get rid of the snow and give back our roof."

I held out a hand to catch a drifting snowflake. "What…" Either my temperature was below freezing or this snow was… "Fake," I said flatly.

Travis snickered and snapped his fingers. The roof solidified. "What you fell for was invisible powder and a fan blowing down bits of white confetti."

My ears heated up. One thing I can't stand is getting tricked. I grabbed the sword on the table and chased them out of our cabin in my pyjamas and negative something degrees weather.

~0~

Although Chiron refused to celebrate Christmas before the 25th, he emerged from the Big House with one lone curler in his tail and a Santa's hat. I gawked in archery practice and the arrow landed a centimetre away from my foot. "Is that really Chiron?"

"No wonder his tail's so curly," muttered some guy next to me. Chiron turned and quickly got rid of the curler, embarrassed.

It was probably because of that incident that he was a little easier on us for the rest of the day. Dinner was delicious as always (maybe even more so) and by the end of it, I stayed slumped at the table wondering how in Hades I was going to get up and participate in Capture the Flag with a stomach so full.

I wasn't the only one. Capture the Flag on Christmas Day wasn't as competitive and ended with everyone clutching their stomachs by the river, laughing and no one paying attention to the flags.

The flames at the campfire that night were crackling merrily. It wasn't very high, because the campers' spirits were content rather than spirited. Somehow, we ended up trading Christmas stories.

"Christmas equals food," said Nico and everyone but Cabin Ten campers agreed.

"I remember when I was small… Christmas was only between my dad and I. It was really quiet at the dinner table," recounted Annabeth.

"We ate blue Christmas turkey once," Percy said dreamily. "Or was that Thanksgiving? What about you, Lena?"

"Christmas? Me?" I looked up at the stars. "I don't know. My dad always spends Christmas away from us. Business trip or something. My mom got the cook to make something. Once, the cook was on vacation so we ate microwavable pizza."

"Yum," Brenton said seriously.

We laughed. Dionysus said something about 'seeing happy brats is too much' and went back to the Big House.

Exchanging gifts happened at Cabin Three.

"For you," Percy said, "And you, and you." He tossed little bundles to every person.

"A snow globe," I said, shaking off the wrapping from the glass ball. "Is that a palace?" I shook it and glitter slowly fell on top of the small piece of perfection. "It's so pretty… what's the shark doing there?"

Percy laughed. "It's a model of Poseidon's palace underwater. I didn't know if you'd like it…"

"I hate it," I said and then waited. "You are so gullible you idiot!" Then I hugged him. _Am I going to survive this quest?_

Annabeth was examining hers. "Mount Olympus?" she guessed. "That's… my architecture." She put it down looking very happy when something else fell out of the wrapping paper. "Gods!" she shrieked. "Is that –"

"An engagement ring?" Rachel asked eagerly. Everyone gave her weird looks. She shrugged. "Hey, they're perfect together."

Annabeth held up a ring. It wasn't an engagement ring or anything like that. It was a college ring. "Where did you find this? I swear I lost it months ago."

Percy shrugged. "I just found it by the archery range. Thought you should have it back."

Atalanta squealed, "Ew!" when Annabeth gave Percy a kiss.

Rachel took out a few large rectangular packages of her own. I eyed her uneasily. She would give me the prophecy tomorrow. _Wonder what my prophecy is…_ "Okay, you'll have to forgive me, but these paintings –"

That was when her eyes started glowing green and mist spilled out of her mouth. I scrambled back, confused. _It's too early,_ I thought, but the Oracle hijacked Rachel's body whenever it wanted to.

_I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies on Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach, seeker, and ask._ The connection was made in my mind. I immediately began wondering if the Oracle could read my thoughts but then felt the gazes of everyone around me. They seemed calm enough to wonder why I wasn't speaking. _Yeah,_ they probably were thinking, _Rachel spews out this junk every time_.

"What will… er… happen on my quest?" I squeaked. Rachel adjusted herself and pierced me with those freaky eyes.

_Take two others but four the sum_ – by now I was feeling a bit dizzy and quite violated.

_Hide if you can the fear shall come _– Hades, that didn't sound good.

_Success will come from one's last breath_ – One's last breath… Did that mean – and what could _possibly_ rhyme with breath?

_The journey's end in internal death. _

My stomach lurched. Everyone felt silent. I was hoping for _no death_, but hearing that confirmed made me run out the cabin and sick the dinner feast onto the white and clean snow. Cailey patted my back – she must've followed me out the door – her hands shaking as she tried to support my shoulders.

"Death," I said to her, not looking her in the eye. "One of us is going to die."

**ok, just to clear things up, yes, someone will die. No its not that old granny randomly sitting on a chair miles away that i've never mentioned before.. now we all unconfuzzled?**

**please review!**


	7. Green Highlights and Purple PolkaDots

**and it's sunday again. tomorrow i have an evil science unit test on freaking space and all that crap. my science teacher moved it up a week and only told us a few days ago. -.- then all morning i spent making a review booklet and dying of thirst but being too lazy to go downstairs and pour myself some juice. but that's just my life and you're probably not interested in that.**

**so anyway, i don't own percy jackson and the olympians made obvious because i actually have to study science and not relax under the sun because i'm damn rich or something.**

**Green Highlights and Purple Polka Dots**

I got great sleep that night.

Yeah right.

I didn't sleep at _all_ last night, which of course had to be expected. I had gone under my blanket anyway hoping for one tiny moment of rest. I even considered banging my head on something hard. But of course that could go wrong in so many ways.

Even though I had focused on getting my mind empty (that was some lame trick I heard years back that would help getting sleep) my mind kept going back to the prophecy. And back. And back. And then to how hungry I was.

But anyway, for some strange reason, I could recount every line of the prophecy. Why? I didn't know? Not an elephant. Maybe it was like that way so the Oracle could keep mocking me. _Can't hide your fate. Nyanyanya..._

I was supposed to make my selection tomorrow and I had no clue who to bring. Of course Nico and Cailey were obvious candidates, but I wasn't bringing them if there was a possibility one of them was going to die. Also, the first line of the prophecy – _Take two others but four the sum._ What in Hades was that supposed to mean?

_I'll figure this out tomorrow._

_Okay. Stop thinking._

_Sleep._

Silence.

_Shit._

This was from realizing my watch actually read 6:30 in the morning. Whatever sleep I wanted, I wasn't going to get it now.

~0~

"So," Nico said that morning. "When are we leaving?"

"You're not coming," I said adamantly though I wasn't so sure. "You heard the prophecy last night, okay? Someone will die, and that's not going to be you."

"Well, maybe it won't be someone on this quest who dies!" Nico said. "What if we're like, this close to Camp Half-Blood when a mosquito dies from being squashed under someone's foot?"

"Internal death," I repeated back to him.

"It suffers a heart attack?"

"Shut up," I said. "You're not coming and neither is Cailey."

"You've got to bring two," he pointed out. "_Pick two others,_ or something like that. Who else do you have besides us? Are you really going to bunk with Mark for days just because you don't give a damn if he dies?"

"Shut up," I said louder. "I know who I'm taking."

"Liar."

~0~

Chiron looked at me wearily. "I don't have all day Lena, and neither do you. Pick your two people."

"I dunno," I mumbled, avoiding everyone's stares. Everyone comprising of the people who were present when Rachel spewed out her rhymes, the camp counsellors, and some very stubborn people who demanded be taken on the quest. Erm, person. Brenton wasn't there Christmas night, but he'd heard all about it when I complained about my prophecy. I didn't give him any details about the last line. Now he was demanding to be taken along, and I wanted to tell him the last line, but I just couldn't.

"Can we just… not go at all?" I said, but of course that wasn't going to be possible. "Chiron…"

The centaur exhaled very slowly, as if he couldn't believe we were going through this argument again. "Lena, you know –"

"It's easy!" Brenton exclaimed. "Just take me. Why are you guys so worked up about this?"

Chiron raised an eyebrow. _He doesn't know?_

I chewed on the side of my cheek as an answer. _Not exactly_. My wrist was raw from snapping the rubber band on it.

Chiron then basically told Clarisse to kick me out of the room. "We have made no decisions with your presence here. Maybe it will benefit us all if we make a decision without you. Clarisse, can you escort her out?"

"What?" I demanded. "I'm the one who's leading this quest. Shouldn't I have a say in this?"

"Your time is up," he said firmly. I stormed out in my boots, and once I was out, I stared at the door without any energy to press my ear to the door and eavesdrop.

I slumped against the wall and yawned, thinking about taking a nap. But then the stupid prophecy came to haunt me again and I got no sleep for the hour I waited.

Finally Annabeth came out and hauled me in.

"Who?" I asked simply, though I figured out just from everyone's expressions. Brenton looked furious and Cailey and Nico looked triumphant. "Why am I not surprised," I sighed and looked around the table. Diana hummed a tune under her breath in the silence (she had been invited to spend Christmas evening with us). Annabeth looked uncomfortable, and Percy just looked tired and confused. Clarisse went back to being disinterested and had a thumb war with Travis Stoll.

"Your quest begins as soon as you pack your supplies," Chiron directed us. "Meet at the front of the Big House and then Argus will bring you to Manhattan."

~0~

"They wouldn't let me go," Brenton said, hammering a piece of hot metal furiously. It cracked under his pressure. "I don't get it."

"It's a suicide mission," I finally explained. "The prophecy said one of us is going to die." _It's either going to be me, Nico, or Cailey…_

_Take two others but four the sum._

"Brenton," I said urgently. "Don't follow us. Okay? Whatever you do… you can't be the fourth one."

"The fourth what?" he asked blankly. "Besides, the Oracle probably just said a load of crap. It's a quest! Of course campers sometimes die. _We're demigods!_ We're the ones who go and say _screw you_ to monsters cause we're the only ones who'll…" The piece of metal shattered into pieces. He stared at it angrily.

"You won't follow us, right?"

"I won't," he said. "If you seriously don't want me around…"

"Right." I left him at the armoury to pack my things. It wasn't the farewell I was hoping to give him. I waved to Travis and Connor but they weren't paying attention, because they were yelling at Diana to step away from the target. Instead, Diana saw me with the bag in my hand and gave a quick nod, like _Good luck._ I turned around and headed for the Big House, waiting for the others.

Cailey came first. She arrived ten minutes later, Atalanta on her heels, screaming that it wasn't fair that her big sis was going to die. Cailey rolled her eyes but sighed at the same time. "I'm not going to die," she clarified.

"The prophecy –"

"Rachel was… kidding around okay?" She patted the girl's head. "Be a good girl for me. I'll see you in a few days." She knelt on the ground so that her face was at the same level as the shorter girl's and brushed the wrinkles out of her shirt. "I promise."

I waited for a touching exchange of a hug between them and that would've happened if Nico didn't come cursing out of the bushes right then. He stumbled out with broken bits of branches stuck in his curly hair. "Shortcut," he said sheepishly, which made no sense whatsoever. I fixed him with a glare. His mood turned sour. "Well are we going or no?"

After prising Atalanta from Cailey with force that only Hephaestus's kids could've mustered, we walked to the main road and into the van. Cailey shut the door and we sped off.

Nothing really changed outside the window on the highway. It was another few hours before someone spoke.

"Hey, you remember six months ago? Riding to our first quest?" Nico recounted. "Déjà vu."

"Hopefully this time, monsters won't be attacking us every five minutes and we won't have any pissed gods against us," I said.

"Unlikely. The monster part."

"Cailey?" I nudged her. She was really quiet, just like the beginning of our last trip. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," she muttered and quickly turned away to wipe a tear away. "Perfectly fine… But what if –"

"Atalanta will be fine," I reassured her. "If you want, I won't force you to come along with us on this quest."

"I'm fine," she said again.

Argus looked at us in the back row through the mirror and blinked several times – well each of his eyes blinked once. "Gas," he said, and I had to wonder if there was an eye on his tongue. "We'll need to stop at a station." The voice sounded a bit raw and unused.

"No problem," I said. "We're almost at Manhattan, right?"

He nodded and tapped the needle inching towards _E_ for empty. The three of us read the signs that passed by the best we could, despite our dyslexia, looking for a gas station.

"There," I said and pointed. The van drove off the highway and pulled into an empty space before another car. It beeped.

Nico pushed on the door. "I'm buying myself a chocolate bar. Do you guys want anything?" We shook our heads and he left for the convenience store as Argus whistled while filling up the vehicle with gas. I yawned. Before Argus was even done with the gas, Nico opened the door again with no chocolate bar in his hands and a pretty pale face.

"What's wrong?" I asked. "They didn't have any Oh Henry bars?"

"I saw you on TV," he replied to me.

"Should I be flattered?"

Nico's impatience showed. "I saw you on TV, you know, in there. Where all they show are like missing and wanted people."

"Are you serious?" I demanded.

"They've got a picture of you and everything." He shrugged. "It's probably not a big deal –"

"It is!" I screeched. They winced. "I'm wanted. Okay?"

"Dye your hair," Cailey said calmly. "We'll just pick up a tube of dye."

"I am _not_ dyeing my hair," I said firmly. "I won't be a brunette, or a blond. I like my hair just fine."

"Your pick," she said. "Wear your cap with your hair tucked up."

I took it out of my backpack. I should've prepared more for this, but when you have the possibility of dying in the hands of freaky monsters, you don't tend to think about being chased and possibly shot at by the police. "There," I said.

They stared at me, making me uncomfortable. Nico shook his head. "You're still too recognizable."

"I'm not dyeing my hair."

Argus got into the car. "You're on TV," he said to me. "You should do something with the way you look. Maybe dye your hair."

"No!" I shouted. For a moment, I felt bad, and Argus shut up pretty quickly.

"Contacts?" Cailey tried.

"Stick little pieces of plastic in my eye? _No thank you_." My hands clenched the backpack strap.

"You have to die your hair," Nico said. "It's something that most people notice immediately in a stranger. Sure, they might forget the colour of your eyes in the description but all they'll probably remember is your age and the fact you have dark hair."

"Great," I answered. "There are plenty of thirteen year old girls with black hair and green eyes. Let's just arrest them all!"

"You still might get recognized," he said. "You're dyeing your hair."

"No."

"Brown," Cailey mused. "It won't look too bad."

"No."

"Yellow," Nico suggested.

"You mean blond?" Cailey corrected. "People don't dye hair yellow."

"Blond hair's boring," Nico quickly said. "Hmm… how would she look with green hair?"

I slapped him.

"White? You make a good albino. Just need a pair of sunglasses and –"

_Slap_.

"Okay! Pink!"

"You'll find me in _hell_ with pink hair!"

"Blue."

_Slap_.

"Red highlights."

_Slap._

"Purple highlights."

_Slap_.

"Green!"

_Slap._

"Purple polka-dots."

Silence.

"What the hell?" I asked simply. Nico and Cailey doubled over laughing, imagining me with purple polka-dots. "It's not going to happen to –"

"She could curl her hair too…"

"Curly polka dots."

"Hmm…"

~0~

I stared at myself in the mirror in a bathroom in a bus terminal. "I cannot believe you talked me into this," I muttered. "Doesn't blue highlights attract more attention –"

"It doesn't fit your description," Cailey explained. "That's fine enough. Of course, it would be better if you dyed your entire head – er, all of your hair."

I ripped open the box and squinted at the instructions. "How many more minutes before our bus comes?"

She looked at her watch. "We've got an hour," she answered and leaned against the wall, waiting for me to finish reading.

"I can't believe I'm doing this."

"You've got a bunch of time to prepare."

Because I couldn't make out half the instructions on the box, I ended up squeezing out the dye on my finger and painting it in messy streaks. If only my mom could see me now. She would've freaked and ranted about the colour, the method I was using, and so on.

Minutes later, the highlights in my hair didn't look anything like the ones carefully applied. I dumped the finished tube in the garbage and washed my hands.

"You could've asked for help," Cailey said. "Holy _crap_ what happened to this section?" She held up a strand of hair. Since she rarely swore, I figured it looked pretty horrific to her.

"I don't have much experience in dyeing my hair," I said dryly and a bit impatiently. "Now what? I soak my head in water?"

"Wait a little longer. It's best if you take a shower but we're short of those right now."

Ten minutes passed. Then I ran the tap and stuck my head under, making a big mess, but I wasn't cleaning it so I didn't care.

"Done?" I asked.

She handed me a wad of paper towels as a substitute for the actual thing. We left the bathroom. Because of the way Cailey had reacted, I expected Nico to go all _holy shit_ on me too, but he just took one look and shrugged.

Boys.

"Here's your tickets," he said, handing them to us. I put it in my pocket and spun my baseball-bat-disguised-sword around.

Fifteen minutes later, we were on the bus.

Fifteen minutes after that, we were driving out of the terminal.

And our quest began.

**now i don't have an excuse to actually begin studying for science now that the chapter's up... so please review and maybe my grumpy mood will lift. :P**

**Until next time! ~^^~**


	8. Define Quest: Monsters

**hey its cookiecrumbs here cant say much cuz im in a rush but HALLOWEEN TODAY and imma get my free dose of sugar! :D and nanowrimo starts tomorrow! (sesarch it up on google)**

**so i dont own pj & o and plz review. :D**

**Define Quest: Monsters**

The first hour was boring. After checking, and re-checking just to make sure, and then checking again just 'cause there was nothing to do for any signs of random monsters who had severe eye problems and thought we were yum-yums, I went to the classic elbow on the seat arm, bottom of my palm squishing up against my right cheek pose. Probably looked like a demented fish with half its eyeball cut out, but whatever. By peeking between the seats, I saw some people spaced out and listening to their Ipods as well as people reading books although the ride was bumpy and made your teeth clack together. I didn't have my Ipod with me – still at home, with a bunch of other stuff I might never see again – and no demigod in their right mind would subject themselves to reading Jane Austen – or even reading. In English I mean. Annabeth and her siblings could take on any book about architecture in Ancient Greek.

Let me tell you, any long bus ride for two friends with ADHD is enough to turn them against each other and put a dagger at their throats. Nico started out okay. But then he took out a piece of gum and started chewing. I caught a whiff of the minty scent and gagged. When my mom attempted to cook for dinner _for once_, she accidentally bought mint instead of spinach or whatever leafy vegetable it was supposed to be. We ended up having mint flavoured chunks of meat and dough. To this day, two years later, my stomach still turned at the scent.

"Want one?" He offered a stick.

"No," I said and winced as he went cross eyed trying to blow a bubble.

"Hate this gum," he said, looking down at it. "I'm going back to bubble gum next time."

So he sat there blowing bubbles and chewing loudly. After ten minutes, I was pretty sure he was going to stop soon. After thirty, I wondered when the flavour in his damn gum would run out. After an hour, I seriously considered breaking his jaw so he couldn't chew anymore.

The bathroom break saved me from doing any harm.

Nico spit out his gum, much to my relief. A line grew in front of the bathroom outhouse. I waited until Cailey hopped off the bus and we headed to the back of the building where it stunk really bad, but bad enough so that we were the only ones there.

I took out a drachma and Nico opened the cleaning room – it was unlocked. "There's gotta be one somewhere in here," he muttered as we went through the pile of dirty mops and rags. "Here!" he triumphantly held up a spray bottle.

"It's a bit too small," I noted. "But it's all we've got." Nico aimed at an area where the sun was now shining through the rain clouds. "The connection's going to be really bad," I sighed and then shut up because Nico was rolling his eyes at my complaints.

"O Iris, goddess of the rainbow… do your stuff," Nico said. _Really?_ I thought but didn't say a word. "Chiron at Camp Half-Blood."

Nico pumped wildly. Chiron's back appeared. "Chiron!" I shouted. He turned around at the sound and saw us. Then he leaned towards the image until his face covered most of the image.

"Nice hair," he noted.

I ignored his comment. "Sorry the connection's really bad, but just need to tell you we're safe and okay, you know, no monsters or anything."

Chiron looked relieved. "That's good. Where are you?" Or at least that's what I thought he said because the spray bottle wasn't the best and his voice was breaking like static.

"On the way to West Point. We're on a washroom break." Then I saw Diana over Chiron's shoulder and waved. She disappeared within seconds with an expression I couldn't quite make out. Were my blue highlights really that bad? "Tell Diana I said hi," I told him.

"Diana?" Chiron asked. "But she's –"

"No more water!" Nico announced. He let the empty spray bottle fall from his fingers and shook out the numbness in his arms.

"What?" I didn't hear Chiron's last few words. But he didn't answer because the connection had been broken. I continued to look at the patch of air where he used to be.

"Let's go back," Cailey suggested. "We told him what we wanted to tell him. Why are we still hanging out behind a stinky bathroom?"

The bus engine groaned. We simultaneously whitened and made a mad dash for the bus.

Thank the gods I was a fast runner. The bus was slowly pulling out when I hammered on the door. The bus driver looked intensely pissed, but I wasn't going anywhere without my stuff on the bus.

"We called everyone out of the bathrooms," he said.

"Well," I replied. "Since it was such a long line, my friends and I decided to go by the forest." His expression told me he'd just received a bit too much information. "Thought you should know," I said cheerfully.

"Get on," he grunted and we went back to our seats.

Anyway, back to my theory about a bus ride and the daggers against best friends' throats.

This time, I made sure to sit next to Cailey. She didn't do anything too annoying. She was almost _boring_. No offence of course.

But the problem was that she didn't talk at all. When I tried to start up a conversation, she just nodded or stared out blankly. She wasn't here at all. It was like talking to a person you just met. Irritated, I turned to Nico, who was tapping out a rhythm on his leg as he listened to a rock song, the volume so loud I could almost make out the lyrics the singer was shouting angrily.

I checked the time on Cailey's watch and decided next time I was forced to go on a long trip by bus or car or whatever, I'd rent a plane.

Then things got a lot more interesting. Yeah, it isn't your average quest if monsters don't attack you within a few hours.

~0~

Two dracanaes must've been very hungry to be desperate enough to knock down the front door of a bus moving more than 60 mph. The driver was so alarmed, he pressed the brake. Which was a good idea and a bad idea because the dracanaes were thrown off by the sudden drop in speed, but by the time they got their senses back, it was much faster than the driver had as he wondered how the hell a bunch of mutated snake ladies ripped down the door. The dracanae climbed in right when I realized something was seriously wrong.

I pulled the headphones off of Nico's ears. "Dracanae!" I shouted at him.

He rubbed his ears and scowled. "I totally needed that." He took out his sword and the bus tipped precariously to the side as they boarded the bus. Glass shattered from the chaos. They were _heavy._ I stood up as the bus landed on its right side. The ground dropped under me and my face smashed into the window, right next to a very stunned man. My head spun. When I righted myself, some of the broken window pane shards came with me. Dazed, I pulled the glass shards out, too shocked to feel most of the pain. If I'd been in my normal state, I would've been screaming like a baby.

"I'm bleeding," I realized and pressed my fingertips to my forehead. _Shit._ The skin of my palm too was sliced. "Cailey? Nico?" Was this already the end of the quest? I groaned and clutched the backpack strap as I searched for my sword with my other hand, finding glass bits instead.

"I'm over here," Cailey said. "I think I'm okay but…"

"You're a mess," Nico corrected.

"Me or…" I found my sword and stood shakily on my feet. Nico and Cailey were at my back. When I saw the dracanae, I went weak at the knees.

"Demigods," they hissed.

I swore something unintelligible and focused on walking without buckling over. An arrow flew from somewhere behind me and nearly hit the target if the dracanae hadn't decided to rip someone's head off just then.

I threw up.

The head dangled from her claws. I wasn't in a mood to fight. I couldn't. Not in the state I was in. Mortals rushed, bumping into walls along the way, confused, and under the influence of Mist.

It was okay if I just left, right? I couldn't fight. Neither could Nico and Cailey. No matter how sarcastic Nico was being, his arm had a huge cut and his eye was swelling up, which was a huge disadvantage.

"We have to run," I said.

"No, I can…"

"No you can't." I grabbed the emergency exit door on the roof and pulled. It opened. I pushed Nico through and searched for Cailey. She was on her side, the bow and arrow in her hands. I dragged her out between the two seats. "Go," I said. She climbed out. I hurried after her and ran for the cover of the trees.

The dracanae realized we'd disappeared and let out a howl. I pulled my sword close, blinking against the blood flowing in front of my eye.

Then the mortals began to scream. It pierced the air – genuine, not the ones you hear at a Halloween house.

I stopped, halfway to safety.

"Run!" Cailey screamed. "They're climbing out." She was right. A dracanae was trying to pull its fat bodies through the exit as it howled for demigods. Mortals continued to scream.

"Everyone else!" I said.

"You'll be killed!"

I listened to her and sprinted the last few yards feeling not very heroic at all. "Is there any way we can stop them?" I asked.

Cailey raise her bow and strung a huger arrow than the others. It could do some serious damage. "They're dying anyway," she told herself. "It's… the fastest way."

"You're going to try and blow the bus up?" I demanded. "Are you serious?"

"They're dying!" Cailey said hysterically, losing her mind for the first time. "The dracanae are just going to keep eating until… and then they'll come after us!"

"There has to be another way," I disagreed. "If we can go and pull them out… or…" I sounded completely pathetic. By now, the screams had stop. Silence was even worse than it.

Nico silently reached over and took the arrow from Cailey's shaking fingers. Then he let go.

The arrow flew up, then down at the bus. I turned away from the explosion, and wiped the blood from my cheek.

~0~

I shouldn't have looked, but I did. The bus had burned down, sending plumes of smoke into the air. After it had rained again and doused the fire, I was able to walk among the wreckage.

The only good news was that the dracanae had turned into sand. I kicked it around in the blackened grass, my stomach heaving over and over again. Then I knelt down to pick up one thing that had escaped burning. A baseball card. I tucked it into my pocket as a souvenir. Then looked up and got that sick feeling of being followed.

"Ready to go?" I asked when I got back.

Cailey and Nico nodded silently, sombre and grave. They'd used enough ambrosia to half heal some of their wounds. I tied a bandana around my head to soak up the blood and refused to look at any of them as we started our hike into the forest.

I should've told them I saw a dark figure while perusing the remains, but I didn't.

Nico lengthened his strides to match mine. Though I'd tried hard to walk as fast as I could, I was probably the shortest one in the group. Unfortunately. "She was crying, you know."

"That's no excuse."

"Just the thing this quest needs. A very angry Lena. Hazard _right_ here."

"Nico," I said, turning to him. "You let go of the arrow. Don't talk to me."

"Yes ma'am."

"I'm serious."

Those were the last words we exchanged before we settled down for the night. Cailey tried making a fire to keep us warm, but the fire was too small and sizzled out within seconds. I hugged my coat to myself, thinking of the warm forges of Hephaestus at Camp Half-Blood.

We lay on the ground, using snow as our pillow and any sweaters or coats we could spare as blankets, and stared into the sky.

I could hear their snores. It had been a busy day. _Killed two dracanae and fifty mortals too. I think I'll go sleep now._ If I'd been more in control… If I hadn't suggested to run… I was the leader after all.

A twig snapped. But the presence wasn't threatening like a monster's. My hand didn't even so much twitch towards the dagger. Quite some distance away from the others, I dared raising my voice to a bit more than a whisper.

"Brenton Ward, if you're out here listening to me, _get your ass back to Camp Half-Blood._"

**so thats it for this chapter. :P btw, that story about her mom screwing up on dinner happened to me. D: **

**i would realllly appreciate it if you reviewed. i know lots of ppl read this story so wouldnt it be great if you all told me how you feel about it?**

**byebye, until next sunday.**


	9. Oh It's You

**Argh i was pulling out my hair writing this chapter mainly cuz:**

**1. i had nanowrimo, meaning i ahd to write at least 1666 words for that**

**2. i have a presentation and a test tomorrow and i felt guilty in not studying/practicing (but hey, writing these chapters is a way to like... loosen stress. but this time it didnt work.)**

**3. my little brother's friends won't shut up.**

**i seriously needa consider those bubble baths... :P not my thing but report cards are coming out next week and my teachers seem intent on causing nervous breakdowns to the entire grade.**

**here's the chapter!**

**Oh It's You**

We set off in the early dawn after Cailey shook me up and said she thought she heard someone in the woods. "I don't care who it is," she said, scooping up the ashes from our sad attempts to get a fire going last night. "A monster will want to eat us and it's risky that a mortal will recognize your face."

I nodded and put on my coat, scarcely warm enough to move.

"There are police searching the woods too," she said. "I heard search dogs not long after I heard that person. It's not good. They're probably looking for whoever caused the bus crash. And with your record and the wanted status over your head, I bet they'll be eager to arrest you."

"Then I'll change my appearance," I said and picked up the dagger. Clarisse walked around with a horrible haircut twenty four seven and once I'd swore I wouldn't ever be desperate enough to want to cut my hair with a dagger. Well, here I was right now. I raised the dagger to shoulder length, and then higher, so I looked like a guy with a bowl cut.

"That's… a little short," Cailey suggested.

"Perfect. I'm a guy now," I replied and caught the falling strands in my bag. I couldn't leave evidence here for the police to discover I'd been in the region. After I finished, I examined my reflection through the skinny blade of the dagger. "I actually look like one," I mused. With my flat chest and neutral clothes, I could easily pass as one. I took out the baseball cap and pulled it down to my eyebrows.

"What's taking you guys so long?" Nico asked impatiently. "I'm hungry. And desperate for breakfast. Did I mention I'm hungry?"

"Then cook yourself breakfast," I said.

"I'm not eating those mushrooms. They look suspicious." I heard the crunch of his footsteps behind me. "What in Hades," he commented. "You won't curl your hair or give it polka-dots, but you'll cut it like a guy's."

"Let's go," I snapped. "You're not the only hungry one."

"Joy."

When we'd walked into the forest last night, we'd made sure to keep enough distance from the road, but we couldn't lose it either. We didn't have a GPS with us or anything. I could see the road from where I was standing, and I was surprised the police hadn't seen us in the first place.

Yet.

Because the tour bus had been following a scenic route, we arrived at a lookout place where many cars were parked so whoever driving them could snap a few photos.

"I have an idea," I suddenly announced.

"Should I be scared?"

"Do you guys know how to drive?" I looked between the two of them. They stared at me, shocked.

"Lena, I will _not_ steal a car," Cailey said.

"But you'll blow up a bus and kill a bunch of mortals," I said flatly. "We need a way to West Point, and it sure won't be walking. Tons of people leave their keys in the car for a simple snap of the photo. It's the perfect opportunity."

"They do?" Nico asked.

"Maybe they don't. Whatever. I'll hotwire it. Do you know how to drive?" I re-asked impatiently.

"I'm not sixteen, Lena," Cailey said. "But it can't be hard. Step on pedal. Step on other pedal. Steer. I think I have the basics down." It was the first time in a long while I'd heard her use sarcasm.

"Perfect," I replied, just as sarcastically. "Let's go steal a car."

~0~

It took a pleasant punch to the victim's face and another punch to shut him up so we could get a car. Luckily, no police cars were around to hear of this incident. Feeling sorry for the man, I took out a fistful of cash and drachmas, and put it in his pocket.

"Come on," I said. We seated ourselves in the vehicle and Cailey stabbed the keys in. The engine roared to life and we hit the road.

I glanced at my reflection in the side mirror. Because of the way I'd dyed my hair, all the blue dye had ended up on the top and faded out by the bottom of my hair. Since I cut my hair, most of the hair was covered with blue streaks. I looked like a rebel.

Cailey pressed a few buttons on the GPS in the car and a robotic voice announced that the closest fast food restaurant was five minutes away.

"Five minutes?" Nico groaned. "Are you serious? Another minute without food and dead boy _will_ become dead boy."

"Nico," I said. "Don't. What happened yesterday –"

"The trunk isn't properly closed," Cailey interrupted. "Can someone close it?" She tried to pull over to the side, but decided against it because pulling to the side meant stopped the car inches away from falling off the cliff. Instead, she swerved and parked by the forest on the opposite lane.

I gave Nico an evil look and opened the door. A gust of wind blew, and I hugged my arms around my body, totally chilled. Navigating through slush in the boots, my feet and fingertips were about to fall off. The temperature seemed to have dropped several degrees since when I was last outside.

I reached the back of the car and crouched down to see why the trunk was open. A piece of metal was jammed. It looked warped. I lifted the trunk a bit and the piece of metal slid out, landing at my feet.

Once I'd picked it up, I noticed it had the shape of something suspiciously like a dagger. I flipped it over in my fingers, looking for something.

"Lena! What's taking you so long?"

I ignored Nico and rubbed my finger over the inscription of one letter near the hilt. A letter D for…

"You idiot!" I exclaimed and reopened the trunk. With one hand, I held the trunk open. With the other, I reached for the bandaged wrist and pulled.

I didn't know how she managed to fall asleep in such a cramped position. But I didn't ponder much on that because I was wondering how the hell Diana managed to follow us all the way to this point without us noticing.

~0~

"Spill," I said. "What made you think you could survive a quest with us? What made you follow us in the first place? _Why_?" After I'd gotten over my initial shock that _Ohmygods it's not Brenton_ and my curiosity in _How could someone with ADHD stay still for that long?_ I'd hauled her out of the car and tapped on the back window. Cailey and Nico thought they were seeing an Iris message for a quite a while before they realized you couldn't yank someone's hair in an Iris message.

I was furious.

"I dunno," she murmured, picking at her bandages. "After I heard the first line of the prophecy, I just thought the prophecy meant _me._"

"Why?"

"I thought I could help," she squeaked out.

I stared at the twelve year old girl, snapping the rubber band against the inside of my wrist. "I'm contacting Chiron," I announced and grabbed the backpack where all the drachmas were.

"Don't!" she shouted.

I paused. "Tell me why."

"Because… he's going to furious at me! And, I don't deserve that."

I raised a brow. "Why? You snuck out of camp and you –"

"It was in the prophecy!" she yelled. "I'm supposed to be the one who's coming along! _Take two others but four the sum_."

"Okay, so what if Rachel predicted it?" I rolled my eyes. "You're going back."

She bit her nails and then shook her head. "I don't want to upset him," she muttered very quietly.

"Upset who?"

Diana was suddenly very interested in the car mat. Her cheeks were red from being in the warmth after being stuck in the cold trunk for quite a while. "Nothing."

"I _hate_ it when people say that," I said. "When they say nothing, it's definitely something."

"Wise words."

"Shut up dead boy."

"Yes ma'am."

Nico and I waited expectantly. "Well?" I asked. "We're still waiting."

"Don't wait," Dionysus yawned.

Now you're probably going like _Holy mother of Zeus_ or something, but no, I didn't get a mind spasm. Dionysus was actually there. He'd just appeared in all his grapey bulk in the middle backseat. Nico and Diana squirmed to the side in surprise. "Children," he commented with a roll of his eyes.

"What's happening?" Cailey asked, and looked into the mirror. "I'm trying to drive… Mr. D?" she was the one with the calmest reaction, no surprise.

"I didn't want to upset him," Diana answered simply and twisted her head so she could glare at the glass window.

"It's me, boy," Mr. D snapped. "Not some creature to ogle at the zoo." Nico flicked his olive green eyes somewhere else.

"Why are you here?" I stammered. First Diana and then Mr. D, I seriously was going to die of a heart attack if Grover appeared and chewed on Diana's broken dagger. "Did you send Diana to follow us?"

"She figures it out," Dionysus rolled his eyes again. "Yes I did, and don't ask me why because I'm not too sure myself. And don't think about contacting Chiron and telling him because I said so. Bring the girl along. Who knows, maybe she's the one who'll die."

Diana stiffened in her seat. I wanted to slap the god across his face so badly. But the fact that he could drive me insane stopped me. "That's awfully blunt," I said.

"Come on," he said. "Heroes do die on quests, you know. You're one of the lucky ones if you don't."

I'd actually never thought of it that way. Were we the lucky ones last summer? I bit my lip.

"Now go off and do your hero stuff," Dionysus said in his signature bored tone. "And Iris will tell me if you do tell Chiron. Look away."

I closed my eyes and a flash lit up the car. When I opened my eyes again, the middle seat was singed and smelling of grapey smoke, if that was a possible combination.

"Guess you're stuck with me." Diana was the first to speak. She was studying her fingers. She looked shaken, possibly from Dionysus's indifference at the death that was going to happen.

I seated myself comfortably in my chair. "Guess so." Why did Dionysus want her to come along? She was going to ruin everything with her inexperience. I didn't want to think about it.

It was cold. I turned up the heater and closed my eyes, extremely weary.

It wasn't even ten thirty.

~0~

When I saw the West Point Museum ahead of us, I allowed myself one sigh of relief. "Finally." I brought up Alec's face and hoped he was still around.

Cailey stopped by a Chinese buffet restaurant. "Let's eat first. I think Nico's dying on the backseat."

"I'll be sure to put in an application for Elysium for you," he replied. "Brunch is the evilest thing in the world."

We found a space to park and went in.

Since it wasn't really a rush hour for restaurants, only two tables were filled. A man was counting cash on one. The other held a girl with pale blond hair. She looked tired because her hands were rubbing her eyes.

"Which table?" I asked.

Cailey nearly bumped into me at the door. She squinted although she had perfect vision. "Wait, isn't that…"

"Who?" I looked back to the girl.

"That's Jess."

"Who?" Hazy memories swirled to the surface. When I met Alec and we had this whole fight-till-you-die thing, there'd been two other girls. One of them was Atalanta. The other was –

Jess. "The daughter of Eris, right?" I asked.

"That's what she told us," Cailey said.

Nico lost interest in Jess and focused on the buffet table. He was about to wander over when I caught him and dragged him over to Jess's table. Diana – looking completely clueless – and Cailey – looking completely unsure – followed us.

"Jess," I said, hovering over her.

She took out her dagger and glared. "Who are you?"

I sat down on the chair opposite to hers. "Last summer, I tried to kill Alec. Ring a bell?" Cailey stood back. "She was there." I pointed to her.

Her eyes narrowed. "What do you want?" she tried to sound tough, but her voice was shaking.

"Where's Alec?" I asked. "We're looking for him. Is he waiting outside or something?"

"No." She sniffled. "I can't tell you."

My patience was wearing off. "Why not?" I demanded. "We're not going to slit your throat or anything."

"I _can't_."

_Ugh_. One thing I hate about interrogating demigods, they could be one hell of a stubborn pig. "How _come?_"

"I just can't. I don't know where he is."

My heart dropped. "As in, he might be back in an hour but for now you don't know where he is, or as in –"

"He's been gone for months," she said flatly. I listened because she was taking on that sincere tone people used when they were telling you nothing but the truth. "So I have no idea where in Hades he went. I've been by myself here since August."

**end comments: read and ... remember? recite? release? review!**

**that didnt make sense. :P nothing i write make sense when i'm tired.**

**WHO'S TIRED?**


	10. We Get Arrested Again

**tired and ready to fall asleep. so i dunno if its good. cuz i have another 1667 words to type up and my music project due. ahh i just love report card season. **

**so read. and review. and then i'll love you.**

**We are Arrested. Again.**

So far, this quest has been nothing but trouble. I was seriously regretting my decision to come – like I had a choice… I was pissed at Rachel for giving _me_ the damn prophecy, at the gods for forcing me to go on this stupid quest, at me for not letting the idea of a new camp rest.

Tired.

So I sat down on the chair across the table from Jess and waited for her to stop crying. That's what she did. Cry her heart out. And since I was no therapist, and I wasn't about to go _oh honey, it's okay_ and rub her back, I just waited.

Cailey was the one who did the entire feel better stuff. Why was she so calm? I needed someone to go into hysterics or something so I didn't feel like a complete ass. Because I felt like doing that myself.

Nico swore, a little late. "Are you serious? That means we're done with this quest. If we can't find him then who knows where we can find another demititan?"

Jess's head shot up. "What do you want with demititans?" she asked suspiciously.

"Why would you care?" I shot back, pissed. "You can't even tell us where Alec is and suddenly you're interested in what we have to say?"

"It's just…" she slumped. "I'm tired of being here. I can help you if you want. Are you looking for demititans?"

"Do you know where others are?" I asked eagerly.

She hesitated. "No. But why do you need them?"

Cailey began the explanation. "We're looking for demititans so we can prove to the gods you guys deserve a safe place to live. You know, a camp for demititans like Camp Half-Blood."

"The gods actually agreed to a camp of our – their own?" she tripped over her words and groaned. "I'm a mess. I can't even speak properly."

"Not exactly agree. There's like a trial. If the demititans prove safe enough to us, then they can get their own camp," I explained. She deflated, slightly. "If you're so tired of being here, then come back to Camp Half-Blood. We have cabins for children of minor gods and goddesses."

She looked down at her cup of hot tea Cailey had poured for her. "Yeah. I'm a daughter of a minor goddess…" her voice trailed off as she picked up the cup. "Eris."

"Wonderful. Let's go back to Camp Half-Blood. Seeing there are no other demititans and our quest is a complete failure…" I watched her carefully. She had to know something. But when she offered nothing, I sighed and pushed myself up from the table.

Diana leaned against the wall. "This Alec guy. How old is he?"

"Um…" I shrugged. "Don't know exactly. Probably a year old than me. Around Cailey's age." She shot me a look, which I pretended not to notice.

"Tall?"

I raised my hand to half a foot above my head, and then lowered it, unsure. "I don't know. He was taller than me last time I met him." Why was I answering these questions? Jess and Cailey knew him way better than I did. I turned them for clarification but Jess was rubbing her temples with her fingers like she had a headache and Cailey was stubbornly not meeting my gaze. She probably hated him or something. "Do you know him?" I asked excitedly.

"If it's the same guy, he gave me a different name," she said. "But we all lie nowadays, don't we. Does he have blond hair?"

Nico made a buzzer sound. I dropped my grin. "Blond? He had dark hair. Like black but tinted blue." Diana shrugged. "Maybe he dyed his hair?" I suggested hopefully. "Like me. Do you have a picture of him?"

"No."

"Diana, this guy you're talking about. He's a demititan?"

"Yeah. That's what he told me," she said. "We were at a foster home together. The last foster home before I came to Camp Half-Blood. After there was some monster attack at a park, he told me. And, well, I never told him I was one but I think he knew anyway."

"Where is he now? Still at the foster home?"

"No," she said. "He got into a fight at school. You don't want to hear the details… but there was one guy who ended up with fifty two stitches. It was awful. They were ready to transfer him but he ran away."

"But you know where he is." Otherwise she wouldn't be telling us this. Right? "Please tell me…"

She gave me a sheet of paper. It had deep creases in it as if it had been folded and unfolded many times. She'd been carrying around that for a while. "I don't know who he's living with right now. He gave me that and said if I wanted to find him it's there. But he also told me about Camp Half-Blood and said that they'd help me as long as I kept my identity secret."

"But you told us," I said. "You told us anyway."

She shrugged. "I was tired of hiding. That's what makes us all give in no matter what. We're tired of the circumstances. This was back in November. First I tried to stay with the foster family. But it was so lonely I…"

"Yeah," I said quickly. "Fast forward."

"I came. End of story."

I opened the sheet of paper. "This is in New York City," I said excitedly. "Come on, let's go."

Nico leaned over and took the sheet of paper from me. "Convenient," he said. "What's this guy's name?"

Diana answered. "Jake. I guess short for Jacob. But I doubt it's his real name."

Jess stood up and put the empty cup down. "I'm coming with you to find this guy."

"No you aren't," I said. "Once we get to New York City, we're sending you to Camp Half-Blood."

"Why?" she demanded.

"One." I held up my index finger. "It's too dangerous. _Duh_. Two. The prophecy said _four the sum_, and that four obviously means me, Cailey, Nico, and Diana."

"You don't know about that," Nico interrupted. "It could mean four the sum of other people you take along besides yourself. So Jess would fit –"

"Nico!" I yelled. "Now you're on her side? There is no way she's coming along. No. Way. At. All."

"Who made you my mom?" she challenged.

"I'm the quest leader, and this what I say." I sounded like a complete brat. I swallowed and tried again. "Jess, I can't take you along."

"Let me go. Please. I really want to help."

"Why?" I asked simply.

I got her there. She bit her lip and tried to force words out. Trying and testing out each lie. Anything but the truth. But in the end, she scowled and simply said, "I'm coming."

"I'm not going to allow that."

"Right. Cause you're the leader of this quest," she mocked. "And so far, it's going great."

"She has a point," Nico muttered.

My cheeks heated up. "I didn't plan for all this to happen! You think I want someone to die in the end of this quest? No, I don't. And that is exactly why you're not coming."

"I'm coming," she said.

"Your death."

"No problem."

We glared at each other. Her fingers were still wrapped around the hilt of the dagger tightly.

I hated it when I lost an argument. Why couldn't everyone see that I was right…? _Awfully egotistical of you_, I told myself.

"Are you done arguing? Because I'd like to eat now," Nico said.

"Go," I sighed. "Fill up your stomach." The tension eased. Somewhat.

~0~

We drove back. Cailey driving of course.

Unfortunately, we ran into some trouble right outside of New York City. We were waiting in line to pay so we could drive through the Lincoln tunnel. The snow heaping up on the roads were turning into slush, and accidents were occurring throughout the area. That and the line was long despite the fact it was not rush hour. While waiting, Diana and Jess started a game of tic tac toe on the window, smudging Xs or Os on the condensation that had formed. Nico was listening to his music again. Of course, it was loud. I didn't dare turn on the radio in case he got pissed at me for interrupting his music, though I doubted he could hear anything but his music. Sitting in the front seat, I rummaged through the compartments, searching for anything interesting to do.

The car inched forward and my head crashed into the front of the car. I winced but kept searching. This guy kept nothing interesting. Maps. The car manual. I brightened when I saw a bag of chips and then dropped it quickly after discovering the chips inside reeked of a funky smell. I didn't want to see them, let along taste the mold growing on them.

The car slowly inched forward again. I looked at the clock. It was two. Hopefully we'd get to the address by three or four and hopefully the Jacob guy hadn't left yet and hopefully we could get back to Camp Half-Blood with no other complications and hopefully the death the oracle was talking about really was about a fly and a heart attack…

How many 'hopefully's were there in that thought?

Someone rapped at the window with their knuckles. Cailey rolled down the window. I passed her the fare but she wasn't talking to the guy at the toll booth. A police officer.

And that was when the trouble started.

"Sir, is there something wrong?" Cailey asked innocently. "We're in a hurry."

"Ma'am," the police officer said to us, wearing sunglasses although it was freaking winter. "There is a problem. The licence plate on the vehicle matches the one someone reported stolen this morning."

_Crap_. I thought and pretended I hadn't heard. Nico of course, actually hadn't heard. I looked at the mirror in front of us and saw Jess give Diana a questioning look. She, in return, motioned at her to be quiet. "Really?" Cailey asked, bemused. Her fingers tightened on the steering wheel but her expression stayed confused. There was a reason I'd stayed quiet. Cailey was a great actor when she needed to be one. "We borrowed a car from our friend two hours ago for a road trip."

The police officer ignored her and scribbled down a few notes on his notepad. "How old are you? You look to young to be driving without a licensed driver in the car.

"Sixteen," she lied.

"You look thirteen." He was exaggerating. "How about you pull off to the side and have a little chat at the station about your _friend_?" He didn't believe her.

"Sure thing, sir," she said and rolled up the window. "What do we do?" she asked once it was up. Quietly. "Look calm. He can't hear us properly but he can still see through the window."

"I don't know," I said. "Run him over?"

Nico took off his headphones. He must've been listening all along, because he said, "How about you make a U turn to the opposite lane and I don't know, pretend it's a highway?"

"It's not a game," Cailey snapped. "Whatever you play on a game station, if a police chase starts, people could get hurt. My driving isn't great."

I pretended to examine my reflection in the mirror above me. "Just go along with them. We'll break out of jail – or wherever they take us – later."

The police officer motioned angrily.

"Better hurry."

Cailey pulled to the side. She unlocked the door and got out. We followed her actions. The sense of unease grew in my stomach. The man examined all of us. I kept my head down and remembered I looked like a guy, so I tried to spit out a glob.

Ew.

Didn't work either.

He frowned at me and told us to get into the car.

So we did.

~0~

They kept us in separate rooms so we couldn't formulate an escape plan or whatever, which stumped me. How do you escape from a police station with your friends if you have no idea where your friends are? I picked up a loose thread in my sleeve. Another police officer was watching me closely, making me uncomfortable.

_I'm not Elena Evans_, I chanted to myself.

He yawned and went back to his newspaper. His fingers carefully selected a jelly donut from a box.

Wonderful. I was stuck here. Bored. Did I mention ADHD can drive you insane if you're locked up in a room?

They'd taken my backpack away from me. They'd discover a thermos full of warm liquid and rice krispies bars. They'd find a baseball bat. No doubt they'd twist the 'evidence' into some weird story. At least I had my dagger with me.

Then the guy who's supposed to be interrogating me came in. I continued looking at my scuffed shoes.

"Hello," he said, as if he expected me to say hello back.

I looked anywhere but at him.

"Elena, we don't have all the time in the world," he said impatiently. "I don't care if you've dyed and cut your hair, I still know it's you."

I looked up then. "So what?" My words didn't reflect the fact my mind was panicking and running around in circles.

He pursed his lips. "Let's begin with when you stole the car."

"I didn't steal the car." I maintained his steady gaze. "I don't know why everyone is running after me, I'm innocent –"

"But you somehow end up looking guilty with the company you keep and where you are." He shifted in his seat.

He thought he'd won. God, everyone was so proud these days. I inspected my fingernails. He waited.

I yawned.

He leaned forward, and then sat forward so his butt has hanging off the front of the chair. I flinched when he took my wrist. "Juvenile delinquents like you deserve to be locked up," he hissed.

"Sir, if you're trying to make me confess, you're not scaring me much."

He bristled.

I smiled and kicked the chair leg. He unbalanced and crashed to the ground, his fingers letting go of my wrist. I avoided his hands and ran for the door.

The other police officer got my arm but I kicked blindly. The blow landed on a very precise area. Fortunate for me, unfortunate for him. By now, the man interrogating me had gotten up but I wasn't going to hang around and stay. I opened the door and ran down the hallway.

"Stop!" he shouted.

Why did they always yell that?

There was someone in front of me. "Boy," he yelled. That wasn't a gun in his hands, right? They weren't allowed to do that.

Were they?

"You're not going to shoot," I said, stopping in front of him.

"Get back in the room."

Regretting what I'd have to do, I took out my dagger strapped to my leg and slashed blindly. It didn't hit him, but he got out of the way just the same.

"You're a girl!" he shouted after me.

"No shit Sherlock." I looked for some place to hide and turned another corner.

There. The hiding place was so obvious I prayed for it to work. I grabbed the open door and hid behind it just as footsteps raced down the hall.

**the name jacob wasn't my idea. it came from an anonymous reviewer. i was having troubule thinking of a name so i just decided, what the heck.**

**yup, thats it. :P next update is next sunday. **

Past me.

I let out a suspended breath and slipped into the room once they were gone.


	11. Hi Mommy, I'm in Jail

**AHH i'm having so much trouble trying to get words out... i just got my report card and must say i'm very happy with my marks. most of them. but my mind is still dying on me which isn't very good becuase i've got a busy week ahead of me...**

**anyway, i'm going to shamelessly advertise here: i just uploaded a new story yesterday called reunion and i'd really appreciate if u check it out. :) (spoilers from the last hero tho...)**

**Hi Mommy, I'm in Jail**

"Lena?" Cailey asked. That was who I found in the room. No one was interrogating her, but there was a man reading a newspaper, supposedly watching her in case she decided to escape.

"Cailey?" I echoed her same tone.

The police officer lunged at me. I instinctively pushed him away. One foot in the air, he fell back down on the floor and landed with a sickening crack.

I swallowed. He didn't move. The two of us froze, not sure what to do. "Let's go," I said after only ten seconds – though it'd felt much longer. The man didn't wake up. "He'll wake up soon." I practically pushed her out of the door, sickened to the gut. What if he never woke up?

It wasn't a hard shove.

I hadn't expected him to land so hard. He was so much heavier than me.

"Run," I instructed and we broke into a sprint down the hall. I screamed when we nearly crashed into someone around the corner. Nico clamped his hand over my mouth.

"Shut _up_!" he ordered. "Unless you want to notify the police department where we are." I took a few steadying breaths to calm myself. Adrenaline ran high. "I've got Jess waiting outside."

"Where's the exit?" I asked.

He pointed over his shoulder. "Right down there. Be quick, it's a back entrance… I need to find Diana."

"Cailey," I called. "You're meeting up with Jess. We're going to find Diana."

"_We_?"

"Of course!" I said. "Now shut up." I pulled his ear around the corner. "Which rooms haven't you checked?"

He held up one shaking arm. "Down the hall, first hallway to the left. Those are the only rooms."

Just as he finished the last word, someone enveloped me in a bear hug. I twisted around and saw another police officer reaching for Nico. "Run!" I shouted for like the millionth time. Nico didn't need my instructions to get the hell away from me. "Find Diana! I'll catch up with you later."

The man missed Nico and swore. He turned back and looked at me, shaking his head sadly. "You won't be doing any catching up any time soon."

Life sucked.

~0~

Though they'd put much energy in chasing me, they didn't seem to want to do anything with me after they put me in another room with no windows and no creepy guy watching over me.

The door was locked from the outside.

I wished I'd learnt how to pick a lock from Connor and Travis Stoll. I wished I had a hairpin with me. Then I could at least try instead of sitting around and doing nothing.

Nothing. At. All.

No one tied me down to the chair so I began pacing the room. ADHD gets to you after a while. I thought about contacting the rest of them but I had no drachmas on me. _Smart._

For a while, I entertained myself by playing around with the light switch. _On. Off. On. Off. Oh. My god I'm going insane._ So I kept the light on and wondered if they knew I had ADHD and had done this on purpose.

Nah, any normal person would be bored after hours locked up in a room of _nothing._ But a chair and a lightbulb.

I stood on the chair and examined the lightbulb just because I felt like it. I made shadow puppets on the ground. I took my elastic band and tied my hair up. Then let it down. I dug my hands into my pocket and found the address Diana had given me.

It was only after I crumpled the piece of paper up and then slingshot it around with the elastic that the same guy from before entered the room. He ducked to avoid the piece of paper as it hit the door behind him. I got up from the chair and picked it up.

"You took forever," I scowled.

"Sorry, we were busy tightening security around your friend," the man said. "Diana, is it?" In other words, Nico hadn't managed to find Diana. I crossed my arms and sat down.

"So you're here to ask me questions. Ask," I said, slumping in the chair. "I won't answer."

He put a hand up. "We've got all the evidence we need. Your parents are here to pick you up."

That caught me off guard. "_What_?" I demanded. "Where?"

"Right outside," The man answered.

The door opened. A woman entered, fixing me with her glare specially reserved for when I did something especially bad, oh say, like threaten someone with a weapon, or steal a car. "Hi mom," I said weakly.

She started her speech. "Lena Evans what the _hell_ are you up to these days? I go to sleep on night and find your face on TV the next! You don't call, or leave a message, but just skip out on us right after school!" She jabbed a finger to my face. I flinched. My mom was so much scarier than the Hydra I saw last summer.

"I can explain," I tried. "Um… At home?"

"Yes you are going to explain, explain _every single thing_ that happened since your disappearance." She grabbed my wrist. "We're going home."

"But what about the charges against me…?"

"The one on December 21st have been dropped," the man said. "Mysteriously enough, the security man you threatened forgot all about the incident, claiming he made up the story." He raised an eyebrow. "The evidence suggests otherwise but…" He sighed. _Oh, I just so wanted you to be locked up,_ that sigh seemed to suggest. I stuck out my tongue at him when he wasn't looking.

"Elena, we're going home _now_."

"Okay Mommy," I said meekly and followed her outside.

She dragged me to the parking lot and punched the buttons to unlock the car doors. I got in. "Wait," I said. "There's another person in there –"

"Look behind you," she said.

I twisted my head around and there Diana was in the back seat, humming a tune under her breath. "Your mom convinced them I'm not a threat to the public," she said to me.

"Thank gods," I said. The car started up. My mom tossed me my backpack. I opened it up and dug around for a drachma. I needed to tell Nico, Cailey, and Jess that I was fine.

But it was eight in the evening. There was no sunlight. I couldn't use the lights inside the car and the rivers on either side of Manhattan were too far away. I dropped the drachma back and searched the sidewalks, hoping they were there.

"I wonder if they're alright," Diana said quietly.

My mother looked at her in the mirror, her mouth pressed in a straight line. For the first time, I realized that when she talked to me today, she was actually _mad_ and showing emotions. Did she finally end her phase? I snuck a look at her. She glared back. _Not a robot anymore._

Sure, my mom was pissed at me, but at least she wasn't depressed and a living zombie.

My heart jumped happily. Then I remember our dire situation and my spirits sank again. "Mom," I said.

Her finger tightened. "What, Elena, what?" Her voice sounded tired so I decided not to mention the address in my pocket.

"Thanks," I said.

She didn't answer. We passed through the tunnel. Once we were on the other side, she sighed. "You are such a handful. You're staying at home until I figure out what to do with you."

"But mom," I protested. "I'm on a quest!"

She slammed on the brakes. "_What?_" The cars behind her honked. She honked back and kept driving. I sank down into my seat. _Stupid, stupid impulsive me._

"We're on a quest," Diana spoke up from the back. "Do you know what a quest is?"

"Again?" Mom yelled at me, ignoring Diana completely. "Jesus, one day you're going to get killed!" She noticed the tears on my face. "Okay, that was a little harsh. Listen, you won't die, but I need you to be safe, and running around New York instead of staying in Camp Half-Blood isn't safe."

I recounted the prophecy's last line and turned myself away from her. She put her hand on my shoulder and didn't take it off even when I tried to shrug it off.

"Let's start from the beginning," she said. "What happened? Trey said you just took off."

"Oh," I said. "Percy… he showed up and told me to come to camp immediately." From there, I explained every single stupid deed I did and everything that happened. Her frown got deeper and deeper until I thought it would drop off her face.

"Those gods," she said.

"Mom… I know how you feel, but I advise you not to say it out loud in case they fry you," I squeaked out and checked if all of us were alive.

She sighed. "In the morning, I'll drive you to this address. I'll drive you wherever you need to be. I don't care if it's against some rule, but I'm not letting you get yourself killed." The only thing I hadn't mentioned was the last line of the prophecy.

"Mom… I don't think that's allowed." Since when did demigods' moms chauffeur them around?

"That would be very nice of you, Mrs. Evans," Diana chirped happily.

Mom smiled for the first time at the girl, glancing in the mirror in front of her. Then she stopped. "It's not going to be Mrs. for long," she said.

"Wait, what?" I snapped the elastic band nervously against my wrist. "You and dad aren't…"

"He was never your dad," she reminded me. "We're getting divorced. This marriage counselling isn't working out. It's going to be split custody. You, Justin, and Jordan will spend a week at his house and then a week at mine…" her voice trailed off. "But of course, if you don't want to live with me…" She blinked away the tears. I could see them shining in the streetlights. She pulled up to our house but didn't get out immediately. "You and Diana go on in," she said quietly. "I'll be with you in a second."

We got out. I turned to close the door and saw her cry in her arms.

~0~

"Your mom is nice," Diana said to the ceiling. Since I'd refused to let her sleep on the floor, she got my bed while I got a lumpy inflatable mattress. I shifted several times, landing on my side. The mattress sucked.

"Your mom must suck then," I joked. And then realized what I'd said. Diana had been living in foster homes. Of course her mom sucked. I took it back quickly. "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking."

"Easy mistake to make," Diana yawned sleepily. "So, I guess we wake up in the morning… Find Nico and Cailey and Jess… find Jake."

"Yeah. And then we can go back home." Was Camp Half-Blood home? Technically, I was already home. I opened my mouth to ask Diana about this, but just then, I heard her snores.

I figured I'd fall asleep any time soon. But I didn't. The watch ticked seconds by continuously. My mind was on overdrive. How could I sleep?

In my pajamas, I pushed the blanket away and went downstairs to make a cup of hot chocolate.

It was in the kitchen that I heard the knock on the door. I stopped dumping chocolate powder into the hot water and paused. The doorbell rang. Several times, and urgently. I ran to the door and peered through the peephole.

Then I opened the door and pulled Trey inside. "What are you doing here?" I hissed. "It's cold, and oh my god, you're wearing your pajamas too."

He grabbed a coat from the closet and put it on. "Better?" he asked. I rolled my eyes and went into the kitchen to fetch my cup of hot chocolate.

"Want some?" I offered the cup to him.

He shook his head. "Okay, I'd love to explain everything to you in this warm and comfy house, but my house is being torn apart by monsters."

I spilled the hot chocolate on my pants. "Crap!" I yelled as the hot liquid burned my skin. I ran upstairs to change quickly. If I was still here tomorrow, I'd need to explain to my mom on why my pajamas suggested I'd wet my pants.

Diana was sitting up in bed. "Who was it?"

"A friend on mine," I muttered and pulled on my pair of wool socks. How did Trey know? How could he see through mist? "I'll be out for a while, so if my mom asks where I am, lie."

"I'm coming."

"Idiot." I grabbed the warmest sweater I could find, and then the warmest coat I could find. Then with the back pack strap over my shoulder, I ran out the door, closing it firmly behind me.

He was waiting, half shivering and making a huge puddle of melted snow on our kitchen floor.

We left the house. "Okay," I said. "Now we're going to your house. You've got a few minutes to explain how you can see monsters and why one's attacking your house."

**just a random comment here. my pile of candy is gettng smaller by the second. D: my halloween haul this year suddenly doesnt seem so big...**


	12. How to Trash a House

**Voila, next chapter. :P Please tell me what you think!**

**How to Trash a House**

Now I would _love_ to continue the story by saying 'Oh My Gods' when we really arrived at his house it turned out it was a foster home! And that this Jacob dude lived there! And that was why the monsters were attacking his house!

Nah that only happens in movies.

Trey's house was just your average home-currently-being-attacking-by-a-freaking-Cyclops. Funny thing was, despite the many times I'd journeyed back from school with him, my house was closer to the subway station so I never saw his. When he led me there, I had to raise my eyebrow and admit that Trey's family was dysfunctional but still pretty damn rich. In fact, the family might as well be Dare family number two.

When we were just a block away, he finally confessed that he'd been seeing monsters all his life.

"Do they chase you and scream hungry remarks?" I questioned.

"No, they're usually chasing someone else and hollering remarks."

That's when I decided that Trey wasn't a demigod or a demititan, but a misfortunate soul whose bedtime stories popped out into the real world. He looked truly miserable then, like seeing through Mist was some great burden to carry on your shoulders. I would've put an arm my shoulder but I was currently also concerned with making sure we weren't freezing to death.

"But why now?" I asked. "You didn't do anything stupid, did you? Monsters don't usually target people with the ability to see through Mist."

He didn't answer.

"Seriously? Are you that stupid? Trey, trying to rid the monsters and almost getting killed is _our_ job, not yours! What did you do?"

He mumbled something about poking the Cyclops in the eye to see if it was real.

Wow this kid was stupid. I stared at him. "You just walked up to it… and poked it."

He grew defensive on me. "Well I'm sorry! I've been having hallucinations for years. Growing up didn't you want to know if they were real too?"

"No, I ran like hell in the opposite direction."

He acted like he didn't hear me. "For _years_ I've been wondering. And then my parents sent me to a school for nutcases – no offence intended – and then you and your smoke cab popped up…"

I groaned and walked faster in the snow, pulling out my boots from the deep snow with difficulty. "So you decided to poke one _in the eye_ not even thinking about the consequences."

"Yeah."

"And came to get me because you remembered the cab?"

"Yeah."

"You're an idiot."

"I know. House is this way," he said in a matter of fact way.

If that Cyclops and his little gang were ripping down my house, I'd be a lot less calm than him.

Getting closer, I told him to stay there.

"My parents?" he added unhelpfully.

"Don't go all heroey on me." I decided to jump fences from the neighbour's house because a little baby Cyclops was tearing up the lawn. I wondered how everyone could sleep through all the racket.

"There are three of them," he called out.

I assessed the damage, poking my head above the wooden fence with only an upside down flower pot holding my weight. The windows were bashed out on the first floor. At least there was no screaming.

Yet.

Or were we too late?

The lawn was wrecked and the front door was ripped down. The porch sagged as if something extremely heavy had set foot on it. Floorboards were bent, creating splinters.

"I need a lift," I said and dug my right foot on the wooden plank. My hands pushed up from the top of the fence. "Wait – nevermind –" Shrieking rather loudly, I tumbled from the top of the fence, sure I'd broken my neck.

I didn't land with a super ninja roll. Rather I got a mouthful of an unpleasant mixture of dirt, snow, and grass. I hoped Trey's dog didn't happen to like to tinkle next to the fence.

After the stars stopped floating around, I blinked several times and saw the fist of the baby Cyclops.

It was staring at me in a curious way. For a moment, I thought I was dead and my face was about to be rearranged by that very gigantic fist. Then the Cyclops picked me up by my leg and shook me around. The jacket hood fell and I screamed while being shaken senseless. The backpack fell from my shoulders.

Stupid me. Why hadn't I armed myself as soon as I left my house?

"Lena?" Trey shouted. "Are you okay?"

The Cyclops peered at me with its one big eye. I didn't have a hot poker or anything, but my fist was the next best thing I had. I punched at it. It howled and dropped me.

"I'm coming over."

"I got this," I muttered and crawled, half whoozy, to where I thought my backpack was. Being dropped on your back wasn't a good thing. Oh well, at least it wasn't on my head. I didn't need to lose brain cells. My fingers found the fabric of the backpack strap and I blinked up the stars half wheezing and half aware that my collection of bruises had tripled. I found the zipper and tugged it open, flipped it upside down until I saw my dagger and my sword.

Favouring the sword as always, I pushed myself up and swung at the Cyclops.

It didn't like that very much.

Trey dropped right on top of me just then and I got my second mouthful of dirt.

"Soft landing," he noted.

"Damn you're heavy," I wheezed.

He got off and brushed the snow off, backing away as soon as he saw the Cyclops. His eyes were wide. Then he bent down and picked up the dagger, which was extremely brave and heroic and at the same time, bad for me.

The second lights flickered on. All three of us stopped panicking/gawping/trying to eat a demigod to watch a large shadow that could only be a Cyclops pass in front of the window closest to us.

"Mom!" he shouted and ran to the front door, still clutching my dagger. He stumbled on the porch steps but that didn't slow him down.

From the side of my eye, I saw the Cyclops lunge. Without thinking, I swung the sword and caught the Cyclops at its waist. It exploded into yellow sand.

Holding in my stomach and hoping Tyson would never hear of this, I retraced Trey's steps (even tripping over the same plank) and stepped through the torn down door.

No screams yet. So that was good.

If Trey's house didn't look like it was just struck by a tornado (yeah clichéd expression), I might've taken time to admire the upholstery and the fine furniture except once again: 1. It was a disaster area and 2. I didn't care much for furniture.

I read the numbers of the smashed clock hanging on the wall. Had Mom discovered I was gone yet? Was she panicking? I blinked away sleepiness – yes, how could I be sleepy when I have a huge risk in dying? Didn't know myself.

Wincing at the smashed vase (maybe I cared about vases more than furniture) I stepped over the pieces and took a guess to where the stairs were, walking down the long hallway to my left. Then skipping two stairs at a time, I tracked mud onto the vacuumed carpet and made my way to the general area where we saw the Cyclops.

Currently Cyclops number two was gleefully beating up Trey.

At least it hadn't gotten much hits because Trey was lashing out too. Pinned on the floor, he thrashed back and forth so quickly I wondered if he was just trying to escape or if he was really good at fighting.

"Sir!" I called.

The Cyclops looked up at me and bellowed. I got a gust of its disgusting breath. Unfortunately, he didn't stop beating at Trey.

"Seriously?" I swung the blade to meet its neck. It ducked and my sword lodged itself into the walls.

"Mom's gonna kill you for that!"

I put a foot on the wall, leaving another muddy boot print, and tried to pull the sword out. "I wouldn't be worrying about Mom!"

Trey's face was looking pretty bad. His lips were swollen when he said the next thing but I couldn't make out the words.

So I just crouched down and picked up the dagger. The Cyclops turned its attention at me, its one big ugly eye glaring menacingly as if I shouldn't have dared to pull a knife on it.

I stood, frozen with shock, and then stabbed forward when it leaned towards me. The knife didn't pierce its skin because it twisted away at the last moment. It picked me up and bashed my head against the wall. My fingers loosened and I dropped the dagger. For a moment, my mind was completely blank.

"Yargh!" the Cyclops yelled.

"Help!" I screamed like the damsel in distress I was. In reply, the Cyclops swung me like a baseball bat at the other wall.

Then the hands holding me disintegrated. I fell to the ground with a moan, having done that way too many times that night for my taste.

Trey stared at the dagger in his hand. "Are they supposed to vaporize when you kill them?"

"Yeah, don't worry. You're doing just fine. Congratulations on your first monster."

He looked at me like I was insane.

"Let's move on," I said tiredly. "We've got another monster to kill." I tried pulling out the sword again but it stayed in the wall, refusing to move. I tried again but I fell against the other wall and kept staring blankly at the wallpaper of roses, which was peeling off.

"I'll help," Trey offered.

"Give me a second… My skull's a little dented." I reached out and felt the two places I was sure my skull had been bashed in. Then I got up after I felt a little better, and together, we pulled at the hilt. It came out. "Some hero I am," I grumbled.

He patted my back and then peeked around the corner. I could see the back of the last Cyclops retreating. So it had been there all along, not bothering to help its comrade. "That's the way to my parents…" he said.

"That's not good. Listen, I'm kind of sick of fighting another monster so here's the plan." I dropped my voice to a whisper. "Be quick, quiet, and then stab him in the back."

He nodded.

Things never go my way though.

It was my fault really. Or Trey's fault. Let's just say it was Trey's fault. He didn't warn me in time about that squeaky spot on the floor. The Cyclops turned around and roared.

"Crap," Trey said in a really small voice. I couldn't blame him. He was supposed to be an observer, not a participant in this world. But at least he didn't run out on me.

"Die!" it screamed.

"Don't have anything better to say?" I shot back. I couldn't help myself. Geez, it seemed the only words monsters had in their vocabulary was "Die" and "I'm hungry."

The Cyclops picked him up and used him as a club, swinging at me, determined to make me senseless. I ducked and decided that trying to kill a Cyclops when its using Trey as a human shield isn't the best of ideas so I just tried to make it drop him.

"Hang in there!" I yelled.

"Not as easy as it –" Then he went scary quiet after the Cyclops raised its arm and knocked his head against the ceiling.

Good news, the Cyclops lost his grip on him. Bad news, it put Trey through the roof. Bad news number two, Mrs. Sanders was going to have a hefty bill for repairs.

Everything was looking quite shitty for me.

The Cyclops looked up at the boy, shrugged and lumbered to the bedroom. I ran to Trey and pulled on his legs. He dropped on top of me and we landed on the ground.

"Are you okay?"

"Kinda dazed," he mumbled. Bruises and cuts decorated his face. I pulled out a thermos of nectar to drink really quickly and was about to offer it to him when I remembered he was just a mortal.

"Let's go," I said.

Running down the hallway, we banged open the door. I could see only one lump under the blankets. The Cyclops was tugging the blanket off.

Trey looked completely horrified. "You ate my mom!" he gasped.

The Cyclops laughed like the whole thing was funny.

His face was red when he whipped the knife at the Cyclops. It ducked, pretty fast for a huge giant like him. "Can't catch me." He shot out his giant arm.

I ran out of reach and fell onto the mattress. _Bouncy._ I got up and launched myself from the mattress, landing on it shoulder. It seemed disoriented and tried to flick me off. Then I stabbed down.

Silence.

This time I landed on the mattress. Shaking, I closed my eyes and slid down to the floor.

"My mom…" Trey muttered. "He freaking _ate_ my mom."

"That's monsters for you." I was supposed to comfort him, I know, but right then I was in a state of shock too.

Then I heard toilet flush. The bathroom door opened. A robed woman stepped out and took in the damage of the room. We stared at her.

"Isn't that…"

"Yeah."

Mrs. Sanders rubbed her head like she had a splitting headache. "Oh dear," she whispered. "What _did_ he cook for dinner?"


	13. We All Get Carsick

**I apologize to everyone for being late with the update. Sorry! My dad hauled us all to Florida eleven days ago and I only got back here to Canada yesterday evening. So, please read, hope you enjoy, and please comment on the chapter.**

**We All Get Carsick**

"Uh… Mom?"

She turned from the confused poor woman in a bathrobe to a viper in two seconds flat. "Trey Edwin Sanders what did you do now?"

"Your middle name's Edwin?" I whispered to him.

He looked like he was about to punch me. "Burglar?" he tried, but he sounded uncertain.

His mother started up a rant about how Trey did not appreciate anything about their efforts to make sure he had a happy life and how the damage he caused in the room alone was going to send them into debt. I couldn't believe how long the woman managed to lecture Trey for and nearly fell asleep.

He nudged me awake.

"What?"

"She's asking you why you're here," Trey muttered.

I looked at the woman with her hands on her hips. "I'm here… to help Trey… on a school project."

"To start a party, more likely." She said something about young hooligans and I lost interest almost immediately. "So what kind of project is this?"

Who was she? A police officer? I'd been interrogated by enough people over the past few days. "Art," I blurted out. "We're studying modern art… And we have to take a photo of an example of modern art?"

"So you used my room as a subject?"

Yeah it was a load of shit.

"Yes ma'am," I said. "Now if you'll excuse me… my mom's probably wondering where I am."

She squinted at me. "Aren't you wanted by the police?"

"No!" Trey shouted.

"Not anymore," I said at the same time.

"Maybe a call to the station –"

"No!" we shouted in unison. But she was already reaching for the phone so I did the first thing that came to my mind. I knocked her out with a lamp.

"Are you serious?"

"Sorry…?" I held out my hand. "Okay, pass the dagger." He did. "I have to go now and don't expect to see me around for a while to help. Meaning you shouldn't poke a Cyclops in its eye – or any monster for that matter. Got it?"

"Yeah."

We both looked at his mother on the ground.

"I almost wish she _did_ get eaten by the Cyclopes." But of course, he was joking. "What am I supposed to tell her when she wakes up?"

"Hopefully she'll forget everything. I dunno, I'll help you clean up the house. Then if she remembers just tell her it was a dream. If she doesn't believe you…" I patted his shoulder. "You're on your own."

"You're a great friend," he grumbled.

"Do you want me to skip out on you without helping you clean up the house?"

He didn't, so we started with the master bedroom, running around putting fallen paintings back up on the wall and knocked over furniture upright. Trey got out a bottle of some liquid and began spraying at all stains and rubbing them off.

"Where's the maid when you need her?" I sighed.

"Vacation to Mexico," he answered helpfully.

Finally, I surveyed the room. There were things that we couldn't fix – like the shattered mirror – and covered up instead, and it wasn't the best. Perhaps in half light they wouldn't notice anything but once the lights go on, the damage was apparent in a in your face kind of way. We dumped Mrs. Sanders onto the bed and closed the door gently. Then I turned around and looked at the hallway.

Just the rest of the house and the lawn to go.

By morning, we'd finished with the house. Somehow. We'd rearranged the house so that furniture and paintings covered areas that were damaged – like the giant cut in the wall where my sword had lodged, we put an ugly modern art painting there. Maybe they wouldn't notice how drafty the hallway now was because of the giant hole in the ceiling. Out of ideas, we'd put a bedsheet over the hole. I was fretting about the torn up bushes and flowers outside when I pulled back the curtains and discovered everything had been covered in a blanket of snow.

So we were safe, for now.

Since the Sanders didn't go to work during the holiday season, Trey told me they slept in. I hoped the bump on Mrs. Sanders head was big enough to keep her knocked out long enough for me to finish my hot chocolate and make my escape. Yum, hot chocolate. I wrapped my cold fingers around the hot cup.

"What day is it today?"

"28th," he replied. "I think. It's three days till the New Year."

I yawned for the bazillionth time and decided to get home so I wouldn't fall asleep on the sidewalk.

Like the courteous host he was, he showed me out the door and I sprinted into the snow, wincing at the cold and at the numerous bruises that protested any kind of movement. The sharp cold air definitely woke me up. I ran up the driveway and searched for my keys.

_Crap, where are my keys?_

If my mom caught me out of bed… well I just didn't want that to happen. I snuck around the back and went in through the back door.

Mom was waiting for me there. I froze. "You could've locked the front door when you left," she said. "The wind blew the front door open."

"Trey needed help," I said. I shook the snowflakes from my hair. "I'm… going to go now."

She gaped at my pajamas. "You could've gotten hypothermia."

"Except I didn't," I said cheerfully. "So…"

She let me go. It wasn't until I reached the stairs that she called out, "Elena, I have an emergency situation at work. I'm going to have to drive up to the office, so I can't take you guys. We can do it tomorrow –"

"No," I said. "It's okay, I'll just call a cab."

Diana was still sleeping when I came in. Quietly, so I wouldn't wake her, I reached into my drawer and pulled out a bag of drachmas I kept for emergency needs. The sun was up, and all I had to hope was that the lawn hose could spew out half frozen water.

I went down to the lawn and hauled out the garden hose, putting the setting at mist. The water had frozen solid, so I rubbed my hands together in the cold, and imagined mist sputtering out of the hose. It took a while, but finally mist was coming out of the hose and I was feeling pretty smug. I took out the drachma with my other hand and recited the O goddess stuff.

Nico, Cailey and Jess stared back. Their faces were huge.

"So, you've survived the night," I said.

Nico scowled. "Yeah, barely, in a garbage dump. Where are you?"

"At home," I said. Jess and Nico looked jealous.

"So while we were freezing our butts off in a garbage dump you guys actually had a warm shelter and a good night's sleep."

"Not really," I said. "Listen, can you come ASAP? It's better that we end this quest quickly."

"Where's your house?"

I gave Nico the address and made him recite it back to me. He told me they would probably arrive in about two hours.

I turned off the hose and went back inside. Mom was already gone, and I could see tire tracks in the snow on our driveway. She left a note on the fridge asking me to shovel the snow.

By now, the snow looked thick enough to go up to my waist. I hauled Diana out of bed and told her to find a thick jacket in my closet and put on some snow pants. While she was a guest at my house, I had no problem getting her to shovel the snow with me.

But by the time we were finished, I was napping on the bench on our porch and Diana had done more than half by herself. She poked me awake.

"Some host I am," I mumbled. "Falling asleep and letting you do all the work."

She shrugged. "Whatever, you didn't come back last night so I figured you didn't get much sleep."

I closed my eyes again and nodded. I slept for another hour when I got poked awake again, this time by Nico, or rather, Nico's branch.

"She's alive," he said.

"What's with the branch?"

"Who sleeps outside in negative weather of their own choice?" he countered. "Where's Diana?"

"Inside, I think."

Cailey helped me up and I knocked on the front door, annoyed that I'd forgotten my keys again. In the next ten minutes, we caught up with each other, transferred all the food in our fridge to our stomachs, and packed while Cailey tried to get a cab by dialling a taxi service's number.

"Dead line," she reported. "The snowstorm must've screwed up the telephone lines."

What snowstorm? It must've happened when Trey and I were cleaning up the house. "Keep trying," I said. "I'm not walking all the way there in freezing cold weather."

"But you _do_ sleep in freezing cold weather," Nico said.

The glare I gave him was so evil he suddenly decided that the calendar hanging on the wall was worth staring at for a whole minute. Then he asked Jess if she wanted to build a snowman with him. They went outside.

A car honked outside the house. I peeked outside the curtains. "Taxi's here," I said. Everyone got their stuff and moved outside. This time, I made sure I took the keys and was about to close the door when I realized Cailey was still inside.

"Hey," I shouted. "Get out. We don't have all day."

She shook her head. "I didn't reach anyone on the phone. Why's the cab here? I don't know about getting into the cab…"

I responded by yanking her out. "Nico and Jess were outside. They probably waved him down."

"Oh. Forgive me for being cautious," she muttered.

The cab was too small to fit all five of us, especially since there was a driver and a guy sitting next to him. So we were stuck with five people sitting in three seats.

"Anyone volunteering to take the trunk?" Nico grimaced. He muttered something about the Cash Cab.

Before I could get my – our since I had to share with Jess – seatbelt on, the car made a U turn and slammed everyone toward my side of the cab.

"Okay, this won't work," Cailey grunted.

We all agreed and decided that two people would have to sit on somebody's lap. I looked to the driver, who seemed to be chatting animatedly to his friend, with no clue that five people were dying in the back row.

"Who's the lightest two people?" Cailey tried being helpful.

"Not Lena," Nico offered. "Did you see how much she ate at the Christmas feast?"

I slugged him. "Do you want to sit Cailey's lap like a toddler? No? Then shut up."

Finally, Jess and Diana decided to sit on the floor, meaning on our shoes. My feet were going to hurt after this ride. Hades, my whole body was probably going to hurt after his ride. Was the cab driver drunk?

"'Scuse me," I called up to the front. "I don't even think I told you where we're going."

He turned to look at us. His sunglasses were so dark, I couldn't even see the outline of his eyes. I wondered why he needed sunglasses. "Where to, miss?"

I read out the address from the slip of paper. The cab driver made another U turn and lucky me, I got squashed again. Yep, he was definitely drunk. By now, he'd rolled down the window and was whooping loudly with his friend.

This was even worse than the Gray Sisters.

"Nico!" Cailey shouted. "You can't even pick a good taxi driver!"

"Me? When was I part of finding a taxi?"

Silence.

"Wait," Cailey said. "Are you saying you and Jess didn't wave down this taxi?"

"Nope."

"Then that means –"

"Ready to jump ship?" Nico offered.

Okay, maybe death boy was ready to hurtle out of a car going twice the speed limit, but I wasn't risking my neck. "No way!"

There was a chuckle from the front. Not from the driver, but from his friend. "They finally figured it out. Jeez, this group is stupider than that Jackson boy."

Oh great. "You mean my brother?"

"He has a sister?" The driver asked, as if this was news to him.

"Yeah, he does," I huffed. "Now if you don't mind…" _Now if you are nice monsters… _"Can you please drop us of at this corner here?"

They shook their heads in sync. "Nope, sorry, no can do. We've got to drive you to your destination, remember?"

Oh right. The very reason why we came on this stupid quest.

"Three guesses who we are."

Nico muttered something about the Cash Cab again. "Do we get money?"

"Nope," the driver said cheerfully. "We _will_ spare you from the scare of your lives, though."

"Hmm, scare… You're the ugliest monster to ever exist…" Nico said. And he wasn't joking. They had solid ugly faces, alright, just not the monster kind. They looked quite human, actually.

The driver made the sound of a buzzer. "Two guesses left or you'll be in for a ride."

"Too late," I grumbled.

"Second guess?" Was this some sort of a game show to him?

"Complete assholes," Jess said.

The buzzer sounded again. "Now, darlings…" the driver said. "And, um, boy." Nico scowled his famous scowl. "Let's be serious now."

I closed my eyes and wondered who Percy _had_ to cross and didn't kill. Yeah, thanks big bro, for making my experience hell today. _We will spare you from the scare of your lives._ "You're the fear gods," I said.

"Names?"

"Phoebe and Dei… something…"

"Phoebe's my mom," Diana corrected. Oh right.

"Phobos and Deimos," Cailey said. "Gods of fear and terror. Sons of Ares."

"Oh great." Just what I needed.

**Whoop. I was watching the Cash Cab the other day if you guys wonder why I'm being so random...**


	14. Fear Cab

**First of all... happy 2011! you know, i started wondering how they'd make the glasses for this year because in the past years, they had two zeroes. This year, they actually carved a hole in the first one to make the whole thing work... yeah, i was bored.**

**So, don't own cash cab or gossip girl or vampire diaries (aww) or twilight (thankfully) and definitely am not rick riordan. **

**Fear Cab**

So now we were riding in a cab with the gods of scaring. Didn't 'phobia' come from Phobos? It didn't help when they whooped and confirmed that we were correct.

The cab stopped abruptly at the red light. He honked impatiently as a group of kindergarteners crossed. "Stupid schools," he muttered and rolled down the window. "Come on! Hurry up!" he hollered. Then something must've scared the little kids because they shrieked and hurried to the opposite end of the street, and didn't stop there. I looked out my side and noticed a giant dragon breathing tongues of fire. "Relax, demigods," he said cheerfully. "Just an illusion. Now here's the deal. I'll ask you questions. You answer them correctly, you won't get scared. You answer them incorrectly, we'll show what you fear the most. The fear will probably drive you insane or something. If somehow you're still alive and sane or you haven't dropped dead from fear by the end of this cab ride, consider this ride on us!"

Now I was really wishing I'd walked.

"Isn't this like a rip off from Cash Cab?" Nico pointed out.

The driver's partner turned to look at us and took off his sunglasses. "Have a problem with that, boy?" he grinned. Nico turned so pale I expected him to faint.

"No." He glared at the back of the seat once Phobos had turned around.

"Okay, first question. Name of Edward and Bella's child in Stephenie Meyer's fourth book of the popular Twilight saga –"

"What the hell?" Jess demanded. "How are we supposed to know this?"

"By reading, duh."

"But we demigods have _dyslexia!_" Jess yelled.

"Exactly." They high-fived, Deimos only steering with one hand, which caused the cab to jerk from side to side on the road.

"A question for you. Did you even get your driver's licence?"

He snorted. "Do I need one? I learned. It's easy, see?" Just then, he ran a red light, narrowly swerving a car and ending up on the opposite lane. A truck about to run us done honked. He twisted the steering wheel to the right, missing the truck, and slamming the cab against a fire hydrant. "So," he said calmly as if we were taking a slow cruise along the beach.

"You're crazy."

"Jackson's sister, I wouldn't cross me. Are you sure you're his sister? You don't look like a girl."

It took everything in me not to punch him. "I cut my hair."

"Wonderful," he yawned. "Do you have your answer?"

"Think," Cailey muttered. "Does anyone know?"

"I wouldn't touch any book longer than a hundred pages without a ten foot pole. Animal Farm was painful enough," I said.

"You managed to read Animal Farm?" They all looked at me with widened eyes.

"Not like I got the message…"

"Tick tock!" Phobos sang. He turned on the radio, and Ke$ha's TiK ToK came on. To make it worse, he began singing along. "Wake up in the morning feeling like P Diddy…"

"He's insane."

"He's a _god_."

"I'm going to be sick…" I groaned. Phobos just laughed.

Jess sneezed. "Can't you turn on the air conditioning?"

"Ruhnezmay!" This was from Diana.

"I thought it was 'Bless you'," Nico said.

"Ruhnezmay," Diana repeated. "That's the answer. I had a friend who was obsessed with Twilight. She gave me all the details of the book."

We looked at her with horror.

"Not everything," she corrected. "Just… the censored version."

"That is correct," Phobos said sadly. "The Ruhnezmay part. Now spell it. That's your second question."

We all looked at Diana. She shrugged. "Sorry, she just said the name. Don't know how to spell it."

Nico began trying to spell it. "R… u…"

"Incorrect!"

He scowled and tried again. "R… a…"

"Try again, death boy. One more wrong answer and we get to scare you."

I looked outside and noticed we were about to cross a bridge. It was high up, over the Hudson river. "Wait, this is the wrong way –"

"R, E, N, E…" He looked to Phobos for confirmation. We listened with bated breath. "Z?"

Phobos laughed. The car rammed into the side of the bridge and kept going. We were in air now, falling, and the Hudson River was growing under us, ready to swallow us whole. My stomach disappeared. We were screaming, everyone, at ear splitting volumes. I started thinking about how I could try cushioning everyone's fall, and then my mind went blank. We were falling. Through the air. It was so up high and –

I blinked. We were driving through the streets of Manhattan. Ke$ha did her creepy giggle. The song changed to Grenade by Bruno Mars. "Wait, I thought we were falling to our deaths," Cailey said. Her eyes were wide.

"Not bad for a first scare, eh? No, killing you immediately would take away all the fun. Remember, answer correctly, and you won't have to scream shrills like little girls," Deimos reminded as if we'd forgotten.

"What's the next question?" Nico asked.

"Name Stephenie Meyer's discontinued manuscript about Edward's point of view in the events in Twilight."

"Why so many Twilight questions?" Nico yelled. "Do you have an obsession with it?"

By the silence that was growing, the answer was yes. "She's a genius," Phobos defended.

"Shut up," Deimos said sharply.

Diana chewed at her nails. "I don't know this," she fretted. "No, I do! Midnight…" she began speaking under her breath. "Midnight Moon… Midnight Stars… I should've listened to Tina more closely… Midnight… Cloud? Midday Moon?"

"Are those all guesses?"

"No!" Diana stopped thinking out loud, chewing her nails with more ferocity. I felt so dumb and useless. I couldn't even answer a stupid question to save our sanities. "Midnight Sun," she announced.

"Damn it," Deimos swore. "Okay, no more Twilight questions because we won't get to scare you enough."

We cheered.

"We're halfway there. Name the two brothers who have fallen in love with Elena Gilbert in _The Vampire Diaries_."

"More vampires?" Nico moaned.

"L.J Smith is awesome," Phobos said.

"Okay, I thought you fear gods would be more into horror books, not romantic novels!" Jess exclaimed.

"But vampires _are_ scary."

"You two are the most pathetic fear gods I've ever met."

"We are the only fear gods you've ever met," Phobos pointed out. "So, suckers, have an answer?"

We shook our heads, one after the other. "Bob and Larry?" Nico asked sourly. "Throw us off a bridge again. We don't know."

Phobos turned to us again. He took off his sunglasses. I stared at his eyes. Making eye contact would mean that you're not afraid. But apparently, trying to act like you're brave was the wrong thing to do here. As soon as he looked back at me, I was somewhere else. Not in the cab.

"What in Hades?" I looked around. I was looking at an amusement park, birds eye view. There were tiny concession stands underneath, and all sorts of rides like bumper cars and helicopter land. The Ferris wheel was slowly rotating, but there was not a single person on it. No one was here. It was deserted.

Save me, sitting in a rollercoaster car at the summit of what had to be the largest drop to ever exist. It was so high I could see the land around me for miles around. Upon this realization, I began to panic.

The car just remained at the top. It didn't speed down. Yet. I felt the handle under my fingers. It was covered with rust.

Oh great, I was stuck on a rickety old rollercoaster, about to get thrown down into hell.

That was when I became hysterical.

Usually, I didn't mind heights. Unless it was really high up. Back when I visited Mount Olympus last summer, I had to march up steps suspended in midair. I guess it's not really heights, but the fear of dying from heights. Being on this rollercoaster car meant that it could probably fall apart any moment. Which meant gravity doing its work – sending me plunging to the ground until I was splattered flat.

"Very funny!" I yelled into the still air. "I know this isn't real, it's just one of your tricks." Actually, I had to say that aloud to convince myself I wasn't actually going to die. "Phobos –"

The car shook in the sudden breeze. And then it started carrying me down. I squeezed my eyes shut and screamed myself hoarse. I couldn't look at the ground. Otherwise it was going to send me into louder hysterics. The car wasn't slowing down. It was going faster and seemed to have no intention of stopping. My hands gripping the handlebar as tightly as they could because it was the only thing keeping me in. I could feel the wind rushing through my hair.

Then the tracks ended. The car did a somersault in the air, leaving me out of the car and holding on to only the handlebar. My fingers, slippery with cold sweat, let go.

I was falling. By myself. Unless someone had a giant trampoline at the bottom, the next time I'd see Nico would be when he's visiting his dad.

I kept telling myself that Phobos was going to end this before I hit the ground. But the ground kept coming. The concession stands grew larger. My eyes were watering. I closed my eyes tried to keep whatever was in my stomach in. The next time I opened my eyes, the ground was right in front of me.

I screamed and was still screaming when the cab made another turn.

I wasn't the only one screaming though. Jess was just as loud. Nico stopped mid-swear. The other two were just silent and pale. We stopped abruptly and glued our lips together in a thin line.

"That was fun, don't you think?" Phobos asked cheerfully. He was still looking at us. I avoided his eyes, staring up at the bland colour of the ceiling of the car. "I particularly enjoyed listened to your cusses," he pointed to Nico.

"You sadistic –"

"Watch it," Phobos warned Jess.

"We're getting out," I announced. "I'm not putting up with your sick jokes." I pulled at the handle when the lights turned red and Deimos was forced to brake. The door wouldn't budge. I pulled at the lock, but it wouldn't move either.

"Doors are magically locked until we reach the destination," Phobos said in a tone that suggested he'd said this many times before. "You've got two more questions."

"Two more," Nico repeated. "That isn't too bad, right?"

"I don't know what you saw, but if you're willing to go throw it two more times, it probably was a lot less scary than mine," Jess snapped.

"I don't see any other options!" Nico steamed.

"Next question!" Phobos said. "Who plays Chuck Bass in Gossip Girl?"

"You read Twilight… and you watch Gossip Girl…" Nico said. "You have way too much time on your hands."

"At least it's not vampires," Cailey said. "So any of you know?"

"I think I do!" I exclaimed elatedly. Everyone looked my way with everything from shock to surprise. In other words, shock and surprise. "What?" I asked.

"Lena Evans… You watch Gossip Girl?"

"It was either that or Animal Farm! My parents were out doing marriage counselling and my siblings weren't there either…" I rolled my eyes. "I thought you guys would be relieved that I happened upon the show one night. Ed Westwick is Chuck Bass."

"Shit she got it!" I heard Deimos swear.

"Just say your final question and let us out," Cailey said wearily.

"One of you guys here is going to die. Who will it be?" Phobos asked.

No one spoke. Lady Gaga stuttered about poker faces on the radio. Phobos reached out with one hand and turned it off. The music stopped. "Well?" he asked.

"Where did you hear that?" I asked tiredly. It was only the third day of our quest and I hadn't forgotten that part of the prophecy yet.

"We gods are all knowing," Phobos said solemnly. "We were visiting the camp, plotting to prank Clarisse… and you don't need to know more than that."

"None of us are going to die," Cailey said.

Phobos recited the prophecy again. "_Take two others but four the sum_ – you, Lena –" With a start, I realized he knew my name, " – took two others but now you have four other quest members. _Hide if you can the fear shall come_ obviously refers to us." Pride in his voice. Great. "_Success will come from one's last breath_ – someone has to die for you to succeed, no duh, which is exactly what the last line predicts. _The journey's end in internal death._"

Hearing him recite the prophecy was pretty creepy. "The fact that you stalked us outside my cabin is freaky, not flattering," I said. "And who knows? The Oracle is whacked. Everything she says has double meanings."

Phobos ignored. "Which one of you is going to die?" he repeated.

"Nobody," Nico's voice rose higher with agitation. "Didn't you hear Cailey?"

"That's not an answer."

Nico wasn't done. "You like poking fun at us, don't you? Finding the one thing that bothers us? Finding the thing that drives between us as a group? Well I'd just like to say –"

"Don't insult us," Phobos turned in his seat. We all focused our eyes somewhere else. "Well, which one of you is it going to be?"

"Someone answer. He can't do anything us if we don't look at him," I said.

But either everyone was fearing Deimos or no one wanted to admit that they would die because of bad luck or whatever, no one spoke up. The car swayed side to side, crashing into poles and other parked cars. I was amazed at how the battered car somehow still managed to run.

"Deimos, get ready in five, four, three…"

"Me," Diana blurted out. "Now please let us out before I throw up on you."

Surprisingly, they did. No one wanted to be vomited on. The doors opened by themselves. I clambered out of the cab as fast as I could, tripping over my own feet to get to fresh air. Jess got out and then ran to the garbage can, sticking her head in to retch.

The cab drove off. Phobos stuck his head out the window and waved. "Have a nice quest!" he jeered.

Nico aimed a snowball at him and missed.

"Where are we?" Cailey asked. "We should be close."

I checked the number of the house and the street sign. "Actually, we're here." I took in the plain brick house. It was small and old. It wasn't looking like it was about to fall apart, but it wasn't in its best shape either.

"Do you think they let us out because of Diana's stomach?" Cailey said quietly enough no one else would hear.

"Don't think so… When I said I wasn't feeling so good Phobos didn't mind at all."

"So is it because we're here or that we answered the question correctly?"

"Probably because we're here," I answered quickly. "They can't know who's going to die. I bet Apollo doesn't know everything about the future either."

We looked at Diana, who was brushing snow from her hair.

"Are we going to go in or no?" Nico said impatiently. "I didn't get scared half to death just to gawk at the house."

I went up the steps and knocked on the door.

**it would be appreciated if you drop off a comment. thanks!**


	15. Sibling Quarrels

**k, i know i skipped updating last week... this excuse is gonna sound really lame, but my teachers are merciless... scheduling tests and quizzes once we got back from winter break... haha, right now i'm supposed to be doing science, but i'm a procrastinator.**

**i think there's no point in posting that i'm not RR**

**Sibling Quarrels**

When there was no answer, I tried the doorbell, but it must've been broken or something because there was no chime. I resorted back to knocking on the door again.

The door swung open – barely. A girl poked her head out. She scowled at me. "I don't want your damn girl scout cookies. Wait, you're a girl right?"

Being insulted by a girl shorter with me sort of pissed me off. I forced myself to remain calm. "Yeah… Um…s you know Jake?"

The door closed a bit. "Why?"

I was beginning to lose my patience. And, I apparently wasn't the only one. "Hey, you better tell us or we'll knock this door down," Nico threatened.

"Can you?" she sneered.

"Okay, then we'll shoot our way through."

"You don't have –"

Nico held his blade up. The girl opened the door wide at the sight of it. I don't know what she was seeing but usually I'd close my door and then lock and chain bolt it at the sight of a weapon, not open it up.

"I love that trick," he laughed as he stepped in.

"Is everything okay?" Cailey called up.

"Perfectly fine," I answered cheerfully. "Come on up."

"He's upstairs, down the hallway, second room to the left." She watched us go up the stairs with wary eyes and edged to a table shoved against the wall. I could make out a notepad, a pen, and a phone sitting on the surface.

Nico shook his head, and I suddenly wondered why Nico had to scare the girl. "I'm sorry for scaring you but really, we're not going to cause any trouble, I swear. So don't call the police, okay?"

She went for the phone anyway.

Jess tackled her and knocked the phone out of her hand. "What did you even say to her?"

"I just threatened her?"

"Just go, will you? I'll watch her."

Unfortunately, she began screaming his head off. "Help! Help!" she kept shrieking. "Robbers! Drug addicts! The mafia!"

I looked uneasily to the door, relieved that it was shut so no one on the outside would be able to hear. Wasting no more time, I turned around and ran up the stairs. And got knocked down three steps from the top by a guy wielding a baseball bat.

Thank gods I was holding onto the railing otherwise I would've tumbled down the steps. I held my head with my hands, waiting for the guy to start swinging.

"What the hell is it now?" the guy asked the girl who currently had Jess's hat stuffed in his mouth.

She spit it out. "Isn't it obvious? I'm being mauled. They were asking for you, by the way, but I have no idea who they are."

"They don't look like drug addicts or the mafia."

"I needed your attention. You know what I mean."

"You're Jake?" I asked him.

"Yeah. Care to explain how you know my name?"

"Diana told me," I said, but he was already rushing down the stairs. I turned my head – painfully – and watched him envelop her in a hug. She hugged him back. The girl stopped struggling for a second. "You have a girlfriend?" she gaped.

"No, she's my –"

Then the doorbell rang. Cailey peeked into the peephole and then opened the door. I started to ask her what she was doing.

"What are you doing here?" Alec asked. Alec. Of all people. This was where he came after West Point.

"What are _you_ doing here?" she responded angrily. This was the maddest I'd ever seen her. She looked ready to bang him over the head with the bow any minute. "Do you know how worried I was when I went back to West Point only to find that you left Jess by herself while you left to go gods know where?"

"Um… no?" He dropped his backpack on the ground. "Jake, are you okay? I've never seen you express any kind of positive emotion before."

Cailey wasn't done. "Shut up, Alec, I thought you'd _died_ or something. You could've left like an address or something with Jess."

"In my defence, I didn't know you'd come back on your knees searching for me."

"Cocky and arrogant as always," she retorted and retreated to a corner of the hallway.

Alec pulled off his mittens. He reached into the bag and pulled out a loaf of bread, throwing it at Jake. "I got fresh bread. Enjoy it before it gets cold."

"But if we eat all of at once, we'll be starving for another few days," Jake mused. "I'll put this in the fridge." He started to move to the other room but Alec shook his head.

"Power was cut off a few days ago, remember?"

Jake sighed and kept the bread in his hands. "Right. Maybe if you didn't get _fired _from your job –" he let it drop.

I studied the three of them. They did look pretty thin. And fatigued too. The girl looked ready to fall asleep. "Someone want to explain what's going on? How did my ex break into our home? If she can do it, what about the next time the monsters attack?" Alec rubbed his eyes. "Good thing this time it wasn't the monsters."

I waited for the girl to look blankly at him, but she merely scowled. "They're just demigods… Don't know why they want to talk to us."

"Are you a demititan too?" I asked.

"We all are," Jake said. "Charlotte's my sister."

"You have a sister?" Diana asked. She looked slightly jealous. Probably because Jake felt like a brother to her.

"We got separated during the Great War. She wanted to join the army… I didn't." He nodded to Jess. "I'd appreciate it if you stop choking my sister."

Jess scowled. "Fine."

"So why are you guys here?" Alec looked towards Cailey but she was still stubbornly studying the peeling rose wallpaper.

"Hey, remember me?" I spoke up. "I was at West Point last summer…"

"Yeah, I remember you," he answered. "That day was probably the most interesting day of summer. Plus you kind of stole Atalanta from us."

"So when we got back… I sort of had this idea of a demititan camp. You know, it isn't fair that us demigods get a safe place and you guys don't. The gods asked me to find a couple of demititans to bring them back to camp and see how they do… And if they adjust well then they'll consider giving you a separate permanent cabin." I tried to make my tone cheery and sure but it just came out as exhausted. So we were finally here, at this point that would decide if our efforts would pay off, and I couldn't even sound sure of myself.

"So you want us to be guinea pigs," Jake finally said. "Experimental guinea pigs."

"Well –"

"No way," Charlotte said. "We're doing fine. We don't need gods babysitting us."

"You're doing fine?" Nico retorted. "When was the last time you took a shower?"

"Hey, try taking a shower with no running water," Charlotte yelled back.

Nico turned to me. "She reminds me of you."

I glared at him.

"You could really see the resemblance," Jake commented, which wasn't helping.

"Okay, what were we talking about again?" Nico paused for a moment. "Oh yeah, at Camp Half-Blood, you're safe from any monsters, you get trained, and most importantly of all, the food is _great _–"

Cailey and I groaned. Trust Nico to come up with that.

" – I bet you're getting tired of stealing bread," he finished.

"What's the catch?" Jake asked.

"Only catch I can think of is that we'll get booted out or killed if the results don't please the gods. Or that we'll be considered as freaks at Camp Half-Blood therefore making it impossible to please the gods while hurting our feelings at the same time," Alec said. "If that's the case…"

"I'm in," Jake announced, unsmiling. "I mean, Diana, it isn't so bad there, is it?"

She just grinned like Jake accepting was the best thing in the world to happen to her, though if I remembered correctly, she'd tried to kill herself during her stay.

Alec and Charlotte stared at him like he was absolutely crazy. "No way," Charlotte said. "What if this is a trap? Just a ploy to get us killed? Since when were the gods welcoming of demititans?"

"They said they won't kill you at the winter solstice," I said.

"They_ said_. Is there any oath binding them?"

"Well uh –" My mind went blank.

"Exactly," Charlotte said. "Who knows, maybe they're plotting to kill us right now."

"It's a chance _I'm_ willing to take," Jake argued. "They're right. Our condition's really bad. If we stay here, we'll starve unless we pull off some grand supermarket robbery."

"Who says we can't?"

Cailey shrugged. "Do you guys really want to continue robbing stores until you're old enough to get a job?"

Alec still hadn't moved since he'd tossed the bread to Jake. Melted snow – water – slowly dripped from his wet hair. It was still blue since last summer, leading me to guess that was his natural hair colour. "So it's a few months, right? Before we get the thumbs up or thumbs down. And we're allowed to leave if it doesn't work out for us?"

"You guys are the only demtitans we've found," I said. "It'll suck for me and the gods will probably give up on other demititans, but yeah. If Dionysus doesn't blast you into pieces first."

Charlotte flicked her eyes back and forth from Alec and me nervously. "Well, I'm not going. I'm hungry. Mind if I take the bread?" She grabbed the loaf from her brother and disappeared deeper into the house.

"Charlotte," Jake called, following after her. "Are you sure?" His voice dropped as he closed the door and I could hear them arguing.

Alec sighed and pulled open a door. A closet. He hung up his worn jacket and closed the door again. It fell, landing on the ground and narrowly missing Alec's feet. He sighed again. "We're running out of duct tape," he muttered and pushed the door back into its frame. It just fell down again, refusing to cooperate. So he left it there and stepped over it into another room. I examined the duct tape that had held the door to the wall. "Hope you're not planning to stay the night. We barely have enough space."

"You have upstairs and all this space downstairs," I pointed out.

"Half the house is falling down in case you didn't notice. So you're staying the night?"

"No. Maybe, if Jake and Charlotte keep arguing. We need an answer. What's yours?" I asked.

He shrugged. "West Point wasn't so bad. Maybe I'll go back there. Jess can come with me, right Jess?"

Jess didn't answer. She began opening doors and slamming them randomly. "Where's the bathroom?"

"Don't do that. We're running out of duct tape. It's upstairs."

Jess nodded and kept her eyes on her feet as she proceeded up the stairs.

Cailey slapped Alec. "You're a jerk," she announced.

Ow," he scowled, rubbing his cheek. "What the hell was that for?"

"You left Jess alone!" Cailey started. "You abandoned her and you expect her to just forgive you and come back with you to West Point?"

"You left us alone," he pointed out. "Middle of the night, you just suddenly disappeared."

"That is _not_ the point, she depended on you to be her big brother –"

"Do you think I left without telling her like _you_ did? I offered her to come with me. I knew Charlotte from the Titan war – before you were assigned with me – and thought it would be better with more people than just the two of us. She refused."

"You left her without an address."

"We didn't have one! Charlotte and Jake were wanderers back then."

"You should've dragged her along with you."

"But that would mean knocking her out every few hours or so and hauling a hundred pounds or so around with me everywhere. You know how Jess is."

Cailey smiled, just slightly. Then the angry look returned. She jammed her hat back on her head and muttered that she was going to wait outside.

"Are you sure?" I asked. "I mean, Jake and Charlotte don't sound like they're done arguing." The door closed. Alec put his hand on the knob for a second, and then raised it to lock the door. I went over to Nico who was listening to the conversation on the other side of the door intently.

"Not much difference," he reported. "She wants to stay, he wants to go. Except now they're both really angry. I think Charlotte called Jake a 'piss-face'.

"She has guts."

We stopped talking since they'd suddenly grown a lot quieter. It was harder to hear the words.

I brought my hands to my face, tired. What if they came out saying no? What if they didn't want to come? And then we'd be back at the beginning again. Lena Evans, a complete failure in finding people who are actually willing to go with her idea… And if that happened, then what about Cailey and Nico and Diana? They'd probably hate me for dragging them along.

The door opened. Nico half stumbled inside and then walked backwards a few steps, clearing his throat and brushing out the creases in his clothes like he'd never been listening.

Jake started. "Okay, so we've decided –"

"No," Charlotte finished.

Jake clubbed her with the loaf of bread. "Yes!"

"No," she said adamantly.

He tightened his fists. "Charlotte, I don't know about you, but I am seriously sick of eating stale bread every single day. There's no power or running water in this house, no heating, and I'm tired of freezing my butt off every time the sun sets."

"Then we'll find another house."

Jake sighed and slammed the door in our faces. They started arguing again.

I slumped to the ground and closed my eyes.

Then things started getting seriously wrong.

There was a scream from behind the door, in the kitchen where Jake and Charlotte were. Nico acted faster than I did, turning the knob and accidentally knocking the door down which was held in place by nothing but duct tape. We stared at the two of them, Charlotte holding an old frying pan in one hand, the loaf of bread in the other, Jake with his arm stuck in the monster's mouth – uh, one of his mouths. The lion one.

If this didn't convince them to come to Camp Half-Blood, I didn't know what would.

I took out my sword and ran at the monster, searching for the right term in my mind. It looked vaguely familiar. What do you get when you have a lion's head and body, a goat's head sticking out of its back, and a snake's head waving behind it?

Chimera.

"Hey!" I shouted at it. "I thought we killed you in Central Park."

It roared flames at me. I rolled out of the way and watched the flames melt the kitchen tiles. Not good.

If it continued this way, the house was going to burn down.

**so this chapter is... kind of a filler? it's probably really bumpy and unsmooth so i apologize for that. **

**please review!**


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